U '' 


wmm 


j|||.  iMl;ih;li,i!liii.l 


i 


lllllllllMlillMlii 


/o.//,o^'^ 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *^^ 


Presented    by  'Z^V\(2rBO(:7'.'r-A  o\^Or-G.\dx^XX\'\S>- 


k 


EOYPT 


AND 


TLe  CIiri5li£.n  Cru52^cle 


BY 
CHARLES    R.    WATSON 


FOURTH  THOUSAND 


THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

of  the 

UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  OF  N.   A. 

Philadelphia,  pa. 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

OF   THI 

UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH   OF 
NORTH  AMERICA. 


T, 


O 
MY  FATHER  AXD  MOTHER 

MISSIONARIES    IN    EGYPT    SINCE    1861 
AND  TO 

THE  YOU:^G  MEN  AND  WOMEN 

OF   THE 

UNITED  PEESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  OF  N.  A. 

THROUGH  WHOSE 

SERVICE  AND  SACRIFICE 

THE   EVANGELIZATION    OF    EGYPT 

MUST  BE  ACCOMPLISHED. 


PREFACE 


To  -write  another  book  on  Egypt,  may  seem 
"venturesome  when  there  are  already  in  existence 
whole  libraries  dealing  with  the  history  of  the 
country,  its  monuments,  and  its  ancient  reli- 
gions; its  present  political  condition,  its  people 
and  their  customs;  not  to  speak  of  countless 
books  of  travel,  recording  the  passing  impres- 
sions of  tourists  who  have  spent  from  two  weeks 
to  two  winters  in  the  Nile  Valley.  It  may  seem 
especially  daring  to  attempt  to  write  another 
book,  when  in  that  book  it  is  proposed  to  touch, 
though  ever  so  briefly,  on  most  of  these  great 
subjects  and  at  the  same  time  to  limit  the  volume 
to  less  than  three  hundred  pages. 

Yet  the  justification  for  another  book  on 
.Egypt  can  be  found  in  two  directions.  In  the 
■  first  place,  the  very  multiplicity  of  books  on 
Egypt,  dealing  with  special  interests  in  that 
most  interesting  country,  leaves  room  for  a  hand- 
book which  shall  undertake  to  give  a  compre- 
hensive, if  not  a  profound,  view  of  the  country 
V 


vl  Preface 

and  its  people,  without  allowing  that  descrip- 
tioD  to  develop  into  a  large  volume. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  a  signiticant  fact, 
that  among  all  the  books  which  deal  with  Egypt, 
there  is  not  one  which  takes  up  for  consideration 
the  great  facts  of  this  country's  history,  of  her 
religions,  of  her  intellectual,  social  and  moral 
conditions,  in  their  relation  to  the  missionary 
enterprise  and  the  Divine  purposes  of  redemp- 
tion. The  nearest  approach  to  this  is  in  "  The 
American  Mission  in  Egypt,'^  by  the  Kev. 
Andrew  Watson,  D.D.,  but  the  aim  of  that  book 
is  rather  to  present  an  accurate  and  complete 
narrative  of  the  most  conspicious  missionary 
work  in  the  Nile  Valley,  the  work  of  the  Ameri- 
can Mission. 

This  book  is,  therefore,  a  handbook  on  Egypt 
in  its  relation  to  the  Christian  missionary 
enterprise.  The  aim  and  the  size  of  the  book 
unite  in  determining  its  character  and  explain- 
ing many  omissions.  The  descriptions  of  past 
movements  and  of  present-day  conditions  which 
make  up  the  volume,  have  for  background  the 
earnest  hope  that  the  Church  will  awaken  to  her 
privilege  and  duty  to  cooperate  with  God  in 


Preface  vii 

ushering  in  the  day  when  "  the  Egyptians  shall 
know  Jehovah." 

To  many  who  have  rendered  great  assistance 
by  furnishing  accurate  information,  offering 
valuable  suggestions,  and  assisting  in  the  pub- 
lication of  the  book,  the  writer  extends  his 
sincere  and  most  hearty  thanks. 

An  Appendix  gives  additional  statistics.  The 
American  Revised  Version  has  been  generally 
preferred  in  Scriptural  quotations.  The  Royal 
Geographical  Society's  rules  for  spelling  have 
been  followed  as  far  as  possible  in  all  proper 
names.  These  rules  are  also  given  in  the 
Appendix. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Pag' 

I.     The  Country 3 

II.     The  People 29 

III.  History  56 

IV.  Religions 97 

V.     Early  Missionary  Efforts   130 

VI.     United  Presbyterian  Mission 150 

VII.     Recent  Missionary  Work 180 

VIII.     Missionary  Agencies 205 

IX.     Final  Victory 037 

Appendix  T.      Population 270 

II      Occupations 272 

III.  Rules  for  Pronunciation  and  Spelling 273 

IV.  Statistics  of  Protestant  Missions 274 

V.      Statistics  of  the  .American  Mission 27fi 

VI.      Bibliography 2Pn 

INDEX 285 

ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Second  Pyramid Frontispuce 

An  Egyptian  Village Facing  Page  9 

AssiUT  During  the  Inundation 

Head  Sheikh  of  Sinaitic  Peninsula 

Cairene  Woman  and  Fellaha 

Lord  Cromer  and  the  Khedive 

Protestant  Church  and  Coptic  Cathedral 

Mosque  and  Moslems  at  Prayer 

Mission  Buildings  at  Cairo 

Some  Converts 

Missionaries  of  1854-1864 

The  Maharajah  and  the  Maharani 

Missionaries  of  1854-1864 

Assiut  College  Buildings 

AssiUT  Hospital  and  the  Ibis 

Missionary  Workers  at  Jubilee  Anniversary 

Map  of  Egypt End  of  Book 

xi 


19 

31 

44 

89 

110 

125 

132 

141 

154 

164 

182 

193 

219 

252 

CHAPTEE   I 


THE    COUNTRY 


Interest. 


Egypt  !    What  a  name  to  conjure  with ! 

Are  you  a  historian?  At  Cairo,  you  may  Historical 
go  out  to  the  edge  of  the  desert  and  let  your 
thoughts  wander  back  over  one  thousand,  two 
thousand,  five  thousand  years  of  history,  for 
your  eyes  rest  in  awe  and  wonder  upon  those 
huge  and  abiding  creations  of  man,  the 
Pyramids  of  Gizeh,  which  seem  to  symbolize 
both  time  and  eternity.  Or,  going  up  the  Nile 
to  Luxor,  you  look  out  upon  a  valley  without 
rival  anywhere  for  historic  fame.  At  hand, 
fronting  the  river,  are  the  graceful  ruins  of  the 
Temple  of  Luxor,  associated  with  the  names  of 
Amenophis  III.,  Eameses  II.,  and  Amenophis 
IV.  A  few  miles  down  the  river  is  the  site  of 
"hundred-gated  Thebes,"  and  the  ruins  of  Kar- 
nak, — an  unending  succession  of  halls,  sanctu- 
aries, temples,  pylons  and  courts,  the  most  ex- 
tensive ruins  in  all  the  world.  Across  the  river, 
in  a  stretch  of  green,  or,  if  the  Nile  be  at  flood, 
in  a  sea  of  steel  gray,  sit  the  imposing  Colossi 
of  Memnon.  Beyond  these,  skirting  the  hills, 
is  a  magnificent  semicircle  of  no  less  than  six 
2  3 


4      Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

temple  ruins,  while  yonder  on  the  horizon,  rise 
the  Theban  hills,  crammed  with  history,  the  fa- 
mous burying  places  of  ages  past.  You  may  go 
farther  up  the  Nile  beyond  the  First  Cataract 
— where  the  ordinary  traveler  stops — and  visit 
in  the  heart  of  Nubia,  the  great  temple  of  Abu 
Simbel,  whose  four  mammoth  colossi  eclipse  the 
Colossi  of  Memnon  in  size,  and  witness  to  the 
greatness  of  Rameses  II.,  pharaoh  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  B.  C. 
^        Or,  are  you  an  artist?     You  may  look  out 

Picturesque  '  ^  •  r-      i  i      t  i  -i  • 

Country,  upou  a  uarrow  strip  oi  ploughed  earth,  on  tnis 
side  of  which  flows  a  chocolate-colored  stream 
and  beyond  which  waves,  in  winter,  a  field  of 
clover,  while  still  beyond  rise  limestone  hills. 
Crude  material  for  a  picture,  you  say !  But  let 
the  wonderful  sunlight  of  Egypt  glorify  this 
crude  material  and  it  will  be  your  fortune  if 
you  transfer  the  picture  to  canvas.  The  sun- 
shine gives  to  the  ploughed  land  the  richest 
shade  of  brown.  Never  was  seen  green  so 
vivid  and  fresh  as  in  this  clover  field.  The 
limestone  hills  have  been  clothed  with  the 
softest  lavender.  The  sky  overhead  is  clear  and 
blue.  Here  and  there  a  clump  of  graceful  palms 
strikes  a  sharper  note  of  color.  And  the  muddy 
river  catches  and  flings  back  the  beauty  of  the 
scene  in  a  subdued  reflection,  which  adds  new 
qualities  to  the  picture.    In  the  Nile  Valley,  as 


The  Country  5 

in  no  other  country,  will  the  artist  find  at  every 
turn  the  beautiful  blended  with  the  picturesque. 

Perhaps  you  are  a  student  of  politics.  If  so, 
can  you  match  elsewhere  the  anomalies  of 
Egypt's  political  relations  ?  Eg}^t  is  a  part  of 
the  Turkish  Empire,  paying  tribute  to  the  Sul- 
tan, three  and  a  half  million  dollars  annually. 
But  what  are  the  British  doing  in  Egypt  ?  So  be 
it,  Egypt  belongs  to  Great  Britain.  But,  no, 
this  cannot  be,  for  her  financial  affairs  are  sub- 
ject to  a  European  committee,  "the  Interna- 
tional Commission  of  the  Debt."  Well  then, 
Egypt  must  be  subject  to  the  co-ordinated 
powers  of  Europe.  But  just  here  the  Khedive, 
Abbas  Ililmi,  steps  in  to  tell  you  that  he  is  an 
independent  ruler  according  to  the  imperial 
Turkish  firman.  Where  lies  the  truth?  Cer- 
tainly here  is  an  interesting  political  study. 

But  you  are  a  Bible  student.  Then  Egypt  ABiWe 
must  interest  you.  Egypt,  whither  Abraham 
wended  his  way  and  where  Jacob  ended  his 
days!  Egypt,  the  school  of  bondage  for  the 
people  of  God !  Egypt,  the  nation  which  figures 
so  largely  in  the  history  of  Israel,- now  standing 
as  foe,  now  affiliated  as  ally!  Egypt,  a  Scrip- 
ture symbol  of  treachery  and  of  worldly  ease! 
Egypt,  concerning  which  are  many  glorious  and 
precious  prophecies !  Egypt,  which  gave  shelter 
to  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem! 


Land 


6      Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Mission*.  However,  the  fact  is,  you  are  a  student  and 
supporter  of  missions.  Again,  Egypt  invites 
you  to  watch  the  success  of  apostolic  and  post- 
apostolic  missionary  effort,  as  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  carried  to  Egypt  by  John  Mark,  if  not 
by  the  Apostle  Peter,  gains  such  rapid  entrance 
that  by  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  the  land  has  be- 
come, nominally  at  least,  a  Christian  land. 
Egypt  invites  you,  too,  to  witness  the  later-day 
efforts  of  Moravian,  British  and  American  mis- 
sionaries, meeting  with  the  Gospel  of  the  lowly 
!N'azarene,  the  most  resisting,  the  most  indomit- 
able, the  most  difficult  foe  that  Christianity  has 
ever  had — Mohammedanism. 
Area.  From  cvcry  point  of  view,  Egypt  is  an  inter- 
esting land,  but,  for  a  moment,  we  will  consider 
the  country  itself.  If  we  take  the  entire  ter- 
ritory comprised  within  the  political  limits  of 
Egypt,  we  shall  have  an  area  of  400,000  square 
miles,  about  equal  to  the  combined  areas  of 
Maine,  l^ew  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachu- 
setts, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  ISTew  York, 
'New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Mary- 
land, District  of  Columbia,  Virginia,  West  Vir- 
ginia, ISTorth  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Elorida,  or 
about  ten  times  the  area  of  Ohio.  The  bound- 
aries of  this  territory  are  the  Mediterranean  on 
the  north ;  on  the  west  a  line  running  north  and 
south  at  about  25°  00'  00"  east  longitude ;  on  the 


The  Country  7 

south,  a  line  running  generally  east  and  west  at 
22°  30'  00''  north  latitude  (this  falls  about  25 
miles  north  of  Wadi  Haifa)  ;  on  the  east,  a  line 
running  southeast  from  El  Arish  on  the  Med- 
iterranean coast  (33°  49'  00"  east  longitude)  to 
Akabah,  and  then  on  in  a  straiglit  line  to  about 
25°  50'  00"  north  latitude,  where  the  boundary 
line  runs  to  the  Red  Sea  coast.  The  Red  Sea 
is,  of  course,  the  eastern  boundary  of  the 
African  mainland. 

The  chief  point  to  be  noted  here  is  the  geo- 
graphical isolation  of  Egypt.  Cut  off  by  desert  or 
ocean  from  close  contact  with  neighboring  lands, 
and,  indeed,  not  lying  to-day  in  close  proxim- 
ity to  any  land  of  great  influence,  Egypt  stands 
isolated  to  a  great  extent.  The  influences  that 
are  to  affect  her  national  life  are  those  which 
are  being  brought  to  her  by  the  political,  com- 
mercial and  missionary  movements  of  the  day. 
In  one  respect  alone  does  this  statement  need  to 
be  qualified.  The  solidarity  ,  of  the  Moham- 
medan world  is  exceedingly  strong,  and  Egypt, 
perhaps  the  dominant  Moslem  nation  of  the 
world  to-day,  is  both  exceedingly  sensitive  to, 
and  influential  in,  the  current  religious  move- 
ments and  thought  of  the  Moslem  Orient. 

However,  the  large  area  just  outlined  is  not 
the  real  Egypt.  It  comprises  desert  land  that 
is  entirely  uninhabited  and  uncultivated.     The 


8      Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

habitable  area  of  Egypt  is  only  12,976  square 
miles.  This  is  about  equal  to  the  area  of  the 
two  small  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecti- 
cut, or  four-fifths  of  the  area  of  Switzerland. 
If  we  were  to  limit  ourselves  to  the  area  actu- 
ally cultivated,  we  would  have  only  9,163  square 
miles,  almost  exactly  the  area  of  Vermont. 
Population,  According  to  the  census  of  1897,  the  popula- 
tion of  Egypt  was  9,734,405.  Of  these  9,020,- 
404  were  Egyptians,  601,427  were  Bedouins, 
and  112,574  were  foreigners.  Making  compari- 
son with  the  previous  census,  that  of  1882,  the 
population  of  Egypt  is  found  to  have  in- 
creased on  an  average  2.76  per  cent,  annually. 
This  would  make  the  present  population  of 
Egypt  12,421,100,  and  there  is  every  reason  for 
believing  that  there  has  been  this  gain.  The 
population  of  Egypt  to-day  (1907)  may  be  con- 
sidered, therefore,  to  be  about  equal  to  the  com- 
bined populations  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
Indiana,  or  about  one-third  the  population  of 
France.  For  all  details,  however,  concerning 
the  population  of  Egypt,  we  must  revert  to  the 
census  figures  of  1897. 

The  limited  area  of  the  country  which  is  at 
all  habitable,  combined  with  the  vastness  of  the 
population,  gives  us  a  density  of  population  un- 
equalled in  America  or  in  Europe,  if  indeed 
anywhere  in  the  world.    Egypt  thus  has  750  in- 


The  Country  9 

habitants  per  square  mile,  as  against  102  in 
Ohio,  140  in  Pennsylvania,  188  in  France,  348 
in  Massachusetts,  407  in  Rhode  Island,  589  in 
Belgium,  and  552  in  Bengal,  the  most  thickly 
populated  portion  of  India. 

The  census  of  1897  shows  the  sexes  to  be 
pretty  well  balanced,  50,83  per  cent,  being  males 
and  49.17  per  cent,  being  females.  Thus  ISTature 
would  scarcely  permit  the  liberal  proportion 
of  four  wives  to  every  man,  which  the  Koran 
allows. 

Classified  according  to  places  of  residence,  we 
find  the  larger  proportion  of  the  population  liv- 
ing in  towns  and  villages ;  about  two-sevenths  in 
towns  and  villages  with  less  than  a  thousand 
inhabitants;  about  three-sevenths  in  towns  of 
one  to  five  thousand  inhabitants,  and  the  rest  in 
cities  of  more  than  five  thousand  inhabitants. 
When  this  is  said,  there  is  also  need  of  empha- 
sizing the  fact  that  the  bulk  of  the  population  is 
engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits.  As  in  all 
Oriental  lands,  however,  farmers  do  not  live  in 
isolated  homes  upon  their  own  farms,  but  in 
towns  and  villages  within  walking  distance  of 
their  land. 

Cairo,  the  capital  of  Egypt,  is  indeed  a  large 
city,  the  largest  city  in  all  Africa,  with  a  popu- 
lation in  1897  of  570,062,  equal  to  the  com- 
bined populations   (census  of  1900)   of  Cleve- 


.U/^imaitt 


OUTLINE  MAP  OF  EGYPT. 
Showing  cultivable  area  and  distribution  of  towns  and  cities.     Underlined 
figures  indicate /eddan^,  1,038  acre  in  a /edtian.     Other  figures  represent  cities 
and  towns. 

10 


The  Country  11 

land,  Columbus  and  Dayton,  or  about  the  size 
of  St.  Louis.  Alexandria,  too,  with  its  popula- 
tion of  319,766  (now  certainly  much  larger) 
would  rival  Pittsburgh.  But  after  these  two, 
we  have  cities  and  towns  of  much  smaller  size.* 

The  physical  characteristics  of  Egypt  are  Physical 
noteworthy.  ^'The  Nile  Valley"  is  the  name  isucs**' 
which  best  suggests  the  land  and  its  configura- 
tion. Imagine  a  valley  800  miles  in  length 
(from  Cairo  to  Wadi  Haifa)  ;  on  an  average 
seven  miles  in  width ;  the  river  in  the  middle ; 
on  either  side  a  narrow  strip  of  land,  a  bare 
limestone  range  of  hills,  and  then  the  desert. 
At  its  northern  extremity,  let  this  valley  open 
out  into  a  rich,  level  district,  the  Delta,  an 
equilateral  triangle  having  each  side  150  miles 
in  length.  This,  in  rough  outline,  is  Egypt. 
To  get  some  idea  of  distances,  we  may  place 
Alexandria  upon  ITew  York;  Cairo  will  fall 
slightly  west  of  Philadelphia;  Luxor  will  be 
near  Pittsburgh,  Pa. ;  the  First  Cataract  will  lie 
near  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  the  Second  Cataract 
(Egypt's  southern  boundary)  will  be  found  not 
far  from  Terre  Haute,  Indiana. 

The  limestone  ranges  enclosing  the  Nile  Val- 
ley are   the   "Arabian"   on  the  east,    and  the 

*  Tanta,  57,289 ;  Port  Said,  42,095  ;  Assiut,  42,078;  Monsurah, 
36,131;  Zagazig,  35,715;  Fayum,  33,069;  Damanhur,  32,122; 
Mehalla  el  Kobra,  31,791;  Damietta,  31,515;  Akmiin,  27,953 ; 
Kena,  27,478;  Nazleh,  27,055;  Minieh,  24,235, 


12     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

"Libyan"  on  the  west.  South  of  Edfu,  the 
limestone  gives  place  to  sandstone,  the  ^'Nubian 
sandstone"  which  covers  so  many  thousands  of 
square  miles  of  ISTubia  and  the  Sudan.  At  the 
First  Cataract,  for  a  short  distance,  a  trans- 
verse barrier  of  granite  appears ;  here  the  ancient 
Egyptian  builders  and  sculptors  got  material 
for  statues,  sarcophagi,  obelisks,  and  even  whole 
temples.  The  Arabian  and  Libyan  ranges  rise 
in  places  to  upward  of  1000  feet.  East  of  the 
Arabian  range  is  the  Arabian  desert,  which 
rises  by  a  series  of  plateaux  to  the  Red  Sea, 
where  the  mountains  attain  the  height  of  6,000 
feet.  The  Libyan  range,  on  the  contrary,  falls 
away  by  gentle  slopes,  westward,  to  the  Libyan 
desert.  Here  and  there  both  ranges  lose  their 
continuity  and  make  possible  caravan  routes 
across  the  desert  to  oases  or  convents.  At  Kena, 
the  Nile  Valley  makes  its  closest  approach  to 
the  Red  Sea,  and  a  caravan  route  to  Kossair  on 
the  Red  Sea  shows  the  distance  to  be  about  one 
hundred  miles. 


ROUGH  OUTLINE  OF  ELEVATIONS  ABOUT  NILE  VALLEY. 


The  Country  13 

Although  itself  small  in  area,  yet  Egypt  has 
lakes.  Some  so-called  lakes  are  only  inlets  from 
the  Mediterranean  Sea,  such  as  Lakes  Man- 
zaleh  and  Burlus.  Other  lakes  are,  toward 
the  Suez  Canal,  the  Bitter  Lakes  and  Lake 
Timsah;  west  of  the  Delta,  Lakes  Elkhu  and 
Mariut;  and  in  the  Fayimi,  Lake  Moeris,  fre- 
quently mentioned  by  early  Greek  travelers,  now 
known  as  Birket  Karun. 

The  climate  of  Egypt  is  famous.  Yet  there 
are  many  who  misjudge  this  Egyptian  climate. 
Visiting  the  Nile  Valley  during  a  few  of  the 
choicest  weeks  of  winter,  some  go  away  ignorant 
of,  and  ignoring  also,  the  existence  of  an  in- 
tensely hot  and  debilitating  summer.  Others 
again,  experiencing,  during  a  few  days  in 
Egypt,  weather  whose  chill  is  all  the  more  pene- 
trating because  the  houses  are  not  provided  with 
any  heating  appliances,  go  away  scoffing  at  the 
far-famed  climate  of  this  land  of  sunshine. 

The  climate  of  Egypt  is  to  be  credited,  gen- 
erally speaking,  with  two  valuable  qualities; 
uniformity,  which  avoids  the  unhealthfulness  of 
great  variations  of  temperature,  and  dryness, 
which  makes  the  heat  less  oppressive.  Three 
influences  operate  in  the  making  of  Egyptian 
climate.  The  Libyan  Desert,  which  is  the 
most  influential  factor;  the  Mediterranean, 
which,  of  course,  affects  lower  Egypt  especially ; 


Climate. 


14    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

and  the  cultivated  land,  whose  influence  is  so 
slight  as  to  be  almost  negligible. 

From  May  to  October,  the  hot  air  rises  in  the 
Libyan  Desert  and  cold  air  rushes  in  from  the 
Mediterranean  to  take  its  place.  This  produces 
the  strong,  steady  north  wind,  which  Herodotus 
calls  the  Etesian  "Wind.  Upon  this  wind,  the 
boatmen  of  Egypt  are  entirely  dependent,  as  it 
furnishes  them  with  the  motive  power  which 
takes  the  place  of  steam  in  propelling  their 
lateen-sailed  craft  up  the  river.  By  night,  the 
current  bears  down  with  remarkable  rapidity 
their  heavily-laden  djerms.  From  November 
to  April,  the  wind  blows  generally  from  the 
west;  but,  after  all,  about  50  per  cent,  of  the 
days  are  windless. 

At  intervals,  during  the  fifty  days  before  the 
summer  solstice,  strong,  hot,  dry,  sand-laden 
winds  are  liable  to  blow  in  from  the  desert  for 
a  day  or  two  at  a  time.  These  are  known  as 
theKhamsin  (from  the  Arabic, khamasin,  fifty). 
These  sandstorms,  which  the  ordinary  tourist 
knows  nothing  of,  for  he  leaves  the  country  be- 
fore their  season,  presage  the  coming  summer. 
Little  puffs  of  wind,  as  if  from  a  hot  oven,  are 
followed  by  a  steady  blow.  The  sun  is  ob- 
scured; the  air  is  filled  with  dust  and  sand. 
The  storm  drives  the  small  particles  through 
clothing,   through   the   crevices   of   a   window^ 


The  Country  15 

everywhere.  You  can  feel  and  taste  and  see  and 
smell  the  dust.  When  the  storm  has  spent  its 
force,  after  one  or  two  days,  the  task  lies  ahead 
of  housekeepers  to  clean  up,  and  of  those  with 
weak  eyes  to  consult  an  oculist. 

Judging  climate  by  temperature  only,  we 
find  the  temperature  of  Lower  Egypt  in  winter 
about  like  that  of  London  in  September.  The 
mean  temperature  for  Cairo  is  56°  Fahr.  in 
winter,  and  83°  in  summer.  This  does  not  in- 
clude long  summer  periods  when  the  thermom- 
eter stands  at  100°  in  the  shade  and  goes  even 
higher.  In  summer,  in  Upper  Egypt,  where 
the  temperature  is  uniformly  higher,  the  ther- 
mometer frequently  reaches  120°  in  the  shade, 
compelling  even  the  acclimated  missionary,  for 
his  own  sake  and  especially  for  the  sake  of  his 
family,  to  find  relief  by  going  north  to  the 
Mediterranean  seaboard.  The  fact  ought  to 
be  emphasized  that  it  is  not  the  discomfort  of 
the  heat  during  single  days  that  makes  the 
climate  of  Egypt  trying.  It  is  the  long  con- 
tinuance of  the  heat  throughout  weeks  and 
months  which  saps  the  strength  and  life  and 
health  of  the  missionary. 

But  the  dominant  feature  of  Egypt  is  the 
Nile.  Let  us  go  back  in  thought  to  some  un- 
dated prehistoric  period,  when  the  great  lakes 
of  Central  Africa  first  found  the  limit  of  their 


The 
Kilo. 


16     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

capacity  and  the  overflowing  waters  were  com- 
pelled to  seek  a  resting-place  in  the  great  ocean. 
What  wisdom  prevented  the  escaping  waters  of 
the  Victoria  I^yanza  from  flowing  eastward  and 
finding,  after  a  brief  journey  of  800  or  1000 
miles,  their  resting-place  in  the  Indian  Ocean? 
Or  what  hindered  these  waters  from  making 
double  use  of  the  great  furrow  which  the  Congo 
River  cut  westward  through  Africa  to  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  ?  It  is  impossible  not  to  recognize 
the  Hand  of  God,  guiding  this  magnificent 
stream  northward,  through  the  great  marshes  of 
the  Upper  Sudan,  across  the  rich  plains  of 
Central  Sudan,  then  reenforcing  it  by  the 
Sobat  and  the  Blue  Nile,  leading  it  on  through 
the  hot  and  thirsty  sands  of  Northern  Sudan, 
3526  miles  to  the  Valley  of  Egypt,  where  this 
River  Nile  might  literally  create  a  garden  which 
should  become  the  cradle  of  civilization,  and  be, 
for  centuries,  the  theatre  of  the  greatest  world 
movements. 

Physically,  industrially,  socially,  intellectu- 
ally— one  is  tempted  to  add,  morally  and  spiri- 
tually— Egypt  is  what  it  is,  because  of  the  Nile. 
Take  away  the  river,  and  Egypt  is  not  only 
changed,  it  ceases  to  be.  But  for  the  life-giving 
waters  of  the  Nile,  Egypt  reverts  to  the  desert 
and  becomes  only  one  of  numerous  "wadys," 
which  characterize  the  Arabian  Desert.     The 


The  Country  17 

Nile  is  Egypt's  highway  of  commerce,  with 
either  wind  or  current  for  motive  power.  Be- 
fore railroads  were  built,  practically  every 
section  of  Egypt  was  easily  accessible,  for  the 
river  was  a  ready  means  of  communication. 
Surveying,  engineering,  the  art  of  irrigation, 
and  the  science  of  astronomy  were  all  members 
of  one  intellectual  family,  and  the  Nile  was 
their  parent.  "No  country  in  the  world,"  says 
Dr.  G.  Schweinfurth,  "is  so  dependent  on  a 
river  which  traverses  it  as  Egypt,  and  no  river 
presents  physical  characteristics  so  exceptional 
as  the  Nile;  so,  too,  there  exists  no  race  of 
people  which  possesses  so  marked  and  unchang- 
ing an  individuality  as  the  Egyptians.  It  is 
therefore  most  probable  that  this  unvarying 
type  is  the  product  of  the  soil  itself,  and  that 
the  character  of  the  peoples  who  settled  at  dif- 
ferent periods  on  the  bank  of  the  Nile,  what- 
ever it  may  originally  have  been,  has  in  due 
course  of  time  been  moulded  to  the  same  con- 
stant form  by  the  mysterious  influences  of  the 
river." 

The  annual  miracle  of  the  Nile  flood  is  to  The 
Egypt  what  the  "bursting  of  the  monsoon"  is 
to  India.  It  is  the  life  of  the  land.  Toward 
the  end  of  May  (May  23  is  the  average  low 
Nile  of  the  last  twenty  years  at  Cairo),  the 
Nile  begins  to  recover  from  its  lowest  state. 


18      Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

By  the  middle  of  July,  the  increase  becomes 
more  rapid.  Toward  the  end  of  September, 
the  river  ceases  to  rise  for  three  or  four  weeks, 
but  continues  to  maintain  its  height.  During 
October  it  again  resumes  its  increase  and  soon 
reaches  its  highest  point.  Then  it  begins  to 
subside,  sometimes  recovering  its  losses  for  a 
few  days,  but  soon  the  decrease  is  rapid.  In 
January,  February  and  March  the  fields  gradu- 
ally become  dry. 

In  explaining  this  l^ile  flood  in  Egypt,  we 
must  look  not  to  the  headwaters  of  the  White 
Nile,  but  to  those  torrential  tributaries  which 
have  their  source  in  the  Abyssinian  mountains, 
the  Sobat  and  particularly  the  Blue  Nile.  The 
rains  of  Abyssinia  transform  the  Sobat  and 
especially  the  Blue  Nile  into  swollen,  rushing, 
watercourses  of  a  reddish  hue,  and  it  is  this 
red  deposit,  swept  down  from  the  Abyssinian 
mountains,  that  enriches  the  fields  of  Egypt. 

But  for  the  skill  of  the  engineer  and  the 
science  of  irrigation,  this  Nile  flood  would  min- 
ister, and  that  often  in  an  uncontrolled  and 
disastrous  way,  only  to  those  lands  whose  low 
level  brought  them  within  natural  reach  of  the 
overflowing  waters.  To-day,  however,  irrigation 
works — the  great  dam  as  Assuan,  which  creates 
a  mighty  reservoir  banking  up  the  waters  for 
150  miles.,  the  dam  at  Assiut,  the  great  Barrage 


o 

I— ( 

H 
W 

g 
E-i 

GQ 
CO 
<1 


The  Country  19 

below  Cairo,  and  the  vast  network  of  canals 
which  belong  to  these  several  constructions — 
all  make  the  cultivable  land  of  Egypt  less  and 
less  subject  to  the  eccentric  extremes  of  a  Nile 
flood.  The  water  is  thus  more  effectively  dis- 
tributed and  stored  up  against  future  need. 

The  ivhole  land  is  divided,  for  purposes  of 
irrigation,  into  large  basins.  These  are  flooded 
under  the  direction  of  skilled  engineers,  and  the 
water  is  allowed  to  stand  until  the  soil  has  be- 
come sufficiently  saturated  and  a  considerable 
quantity  of  the  deposit  has  settled.  The  water 
is  then  drained  off  into  the  canals  or  into  lower 
basins.  During  the  season  when  the  land  is 
thus  flooded  the  country  presents  an  unusual  ap- 
pearance. The  villages  are  at  times  entirely  cut 
off  from  each  other,  save  by  boats,  or  else  con- 
nected only  by  some  high  embankment  which 
serves  the  double  purpose  of  holding  in  the 
waters  and  of  serving  as  a  public  highway.  The 
Delta  enjoys  perennial  irrigation,  and  land 
therefore  possesses  a  greater  value  there  than  in 
Upper  Egypt. 

The  unusual  prices  which  obtain  in  Egypt  for  cost  of 
land  are  a  surprise  to  every  foreigner,  and  are  ^*°^' 
unintelligible  to  many.  Yet  irrigation  gives 
us  the  explanation.  In  Upper  Egypt  farming 
land  sells  at  $300  an  acre.  In  the  Delta,  farm 
land  costs  $700  an  acre  and  upward.  This 
3 


Seasons. 


20    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

seems  strange  to  Americans  whose  best  Iowa 
land  sells  for  only  $150  per  acre.  Remember, 
then,  that  in  the  Delta  is  perennial  irrigation, 
permitting  of  as  high  as  three  crops  during  a 
single  year.  Remember,  too,  that  Egypt  grows 
cotton — and  such  cotton!  A  long-fibred,  soft 
cotton,  which  brought  a  year  ago  eighteen  dol- 
lars per  hundred-weight,  and  you  can  raise  ten 
hundred-weight  on  a  good  acre  of  land.  That 
gives  you  a  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  of  pro- 
fit from  your  seven-hundred-dollar  investment. 
And,  if  you  cannot  raise  cotton  every  year  with- 
out exhausting  the  ground,  you  are  compen- 
sated by  being  able  to  fall  back  on  some  second 
or  third  crop  of  lesser  value.  Remember,  too, 
that  the  Egyptian  wants  to  invest  his  wealth  in 
land.  It  is  a  sure  asset  to  his  mind;  it  is  vis- 
ible; it  will  not  evaporate  and  it  will  not  walk 
away  from  him.  There  are  only  9,163  square 
miles  available  for  investment.  Naturally, 
when  everybody  wants  land,  the  price  of  land 
goes  up.  It  constitutes  an  embarrassing  prob- 
lem in  the  missionary  enterprise  when  land  for 
a  school  or  hospital  is  needed,  but  the  fact 
stands  for  all  that,  that  land  in  Egypt  com- 
mands these  fabulous  prices. 

The  seasons  in  Egypt  are  not  marked  off  dis- 
tinctly as  in  America,  and  many  trees  do  not 
entirely  lose  their  foliage  at  any  period  of  the 


The  Country  21 

year.  Generally,  the  inhabitants  speak  of  two 
seasons,  summer  and  winter.  From  an  agri- 
cultural point  of  view,  however,  three  seasons 
may  be  distinguished,  winter,  summer  and 
autumn.  Wheat,  barley,  clover,  broad  beans, 
may  be  sown  from  the  middle  of  October  to  the 
end  of  December  on  land  whose  low  level  en- 
ables it  to  keep  moist  without  irrigation  (rai 
land),  and  the  harvest  falls  about  February  or 
April.  This  is  a  winter  crop.  Rice,  cotton  and 
tobacco  (this  last  has  been  recently  forbidden, 
to  protect  the  revenue  from  imported  tobacco) 
may  be  planted  in  April  or  May,  and  the  har- 
vest falls  about  N^ovember  or  December.  This 
constitutes  a  summer  crop.  Maize,  durrha  and 
sesame  (for  oil)  are  an  autumn  crop.  Though 
the  autumn  season  is  barely  seventy  days  long, 
it  is  sufficient  to  permit  the  planting,  growth, 
and  ripening  of  this  autumn  crop,  of  which 
maize  is  the  most  important,  standing  next  to 
wheat. 

The  three  great  crops  of  Egypt  to-day  are 
maize,  cotton  and  wheat.  A  recent  report  shows 
1,843,474  acres  to  have  been  sown  in  maize, 
1,491,803  in  cotton,  and  1,296,332  in  wheat. 
These  three  crops  alone  aggregate  more  than 
one-half  the  entire  cultivable  land  of  the 
country. 

We  find  in  Egypt  a  wide  range  of  products.    Producti. 


22    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Of  cereals,  maize,  wheat,  rice,  barley,  and  sor- 
ghum; of  leguminous  plants,  broad  beans, 
lentils,  chick  peas,  lupins,  peas,  lubiya,  liblab; 
of  green  crops,  white  clover  (hersim)  and  hel- 
heh;  of  textile  materials,  cotton  and  flax;  of 
vegetables,  ochra  (hamya),  onions,  pumpkins, 
cucumbers,  melons,  tomatoes,  eggplant,  vege- 
table marrow,  garlic,  cabbage,  celery,  radishes, 
lettuce,  spinach,  parsley,  turnips,  carrots,  and 
beets.  The  castor-oil  plant  and  mustard  are 
also  grown.  Sugar-cane  should  receive  promi- 
nent mention,  for  no  less  than  69,471  acres 
were  given  over  to  its  growth.  Many  products 
.formerly  unknown  in  Egypt  have  been  recently 
introduced  and  found  to  grow  successfully. 
Thus  Egyptian-grown  potatoes  of  the  best  sort 
are  now  to  be  had,  while  strawberries  are  sold 
at  reasonable  prices  in  and  about  Cairo  from 
January  to  September.  The  possibilities  of 
agriculture  in  Egypt  indeed  seem  unlimited. 

Of  trees,  the  date  palm  is  to  be  given  first 
place.  Over  five  millions  of  these  are  counted 
according  to  the  tax  returns,  and  no  less  than 
twenty-seven  varieties  are  commonly  found  in 
the  market.  The  most  common  tree  after  the 
palm  is  the  Acacia  Nilotica  or  sunt,  a  thorn 
tree  whose  pods  are  used  for  tanning  purposes. 
The  most  conspicuous  tree  along  the  highway 
of  the  tourist  is  the  lehhek,  erroneously  called 


The  Country  23 

acacia.     It  sets  off  magnificently  the  avenues 
and  driveways  of  Cairo  and  Alexandria. 

The  dum-pahn  is  found  especially  in  Upper 
Egypt.  There  are  many  grape  vineyards,  and 
grapes  are  plentiful  from  July  to  September. 
From  October  on,  oranges  are  abundant.  Pome- 
granates, figs,  lemons,  and  citrons  grow  well. 
Apples  have  to  be  imported.  Flowers  and  dec- 
orative plants  seem  only  to  require  cultivation 
to  thrive  in  Egypt.  Indeed,  of  all  tropical 
plants  and  products,  it  may  be  said,  that  in 
Egypt  "  everything  shall  live  whithersoever  the 
river  cometh." 

Animal  life  in  Egypt  calls  for  no  extensive 
treatment.  The  absence  of  jungle  and  forest 
rids  the  country  of  the  presence  of  any  large 
number  of  wild  birds  and  animals.  The  Egyp- 
tian camel,  possessing  but  one  hump,  is  a  com- 
mon beast  of  burden.  The  donkey,  however,  is 
the  most  common  carrier  of  both  persons  and 
loads.  The  cattle  are  short-horned  and  rather 
small,  but  in  sharp  contrast  are  the  large  slate- 
colored  buffaloes  which  abound  in  Egypt.  Of 
other  animals,  there  are  cats  and  dogs  innumer- 
able; sheep  and  goats  in  great  numbers;  the 
horse,  most  of  them  of  rather  indifferent  breed ; 
and  wild  animals,  such  as  the  wolf,  the  fox,  the 
jackal,  and  the  hyena,  all  of  which  come  down 
from  the  hills  or  the  desert. 


24     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Of  birds,  the  crow  is  the  most  common  larger 
bird,  and  the  Spanish  sparrow  the  most  com- 
mon smaller  bird.  At  Cairo,  the  kites  circling 
in  the  air  invariably  draw  attention.  There  are 
also  vultures  of  various  kinds.  The  natives 
give  considerable  attention  to  raising  pigeons, 
both  the  common  kinds  and  the  fancy  breeds. 
By  the  river-side  and  in  the  flooded  fields,  many 
varieties  of  waders  can  be  seen,  such  as  the 
plover,  the  pelican,  the  snow-white  egret.  Wild 
geese  and  ducks  are  often  seen;  also  the  hoopoe 
and  the  king  fisher.  Of  course,  poultry  is 
plentiful. 
BriHsh  In  setting  forth  economic  conditions  in 
Egypt,  it  is  ever  necessary  to  emphasize  the  fact 
that  present  prosperous  conditions  are  the  re- 
sult of  two  and  a  half  decades  of  magnificent 
British  administration.  The  impress  of  this 
administration  is  found  every^vhere  in  the 
prosperity  of  the  country.  The  aggregate  of 
annual  exports  and  imports  has  more  than 
doubled  since  the  British  occupation  of  Egypt, 
now  reaching  the  respectable  total  of  $97,500,- 
000.  The  area  of  land  under  cultivation  has 
increased  by  1,000,000  acres,  and  the  cotton 
crop,  which  in  1880  was  about  2,238,750 
hundred-weight,  is  now  generally  from  5,970,' 
000  to  6,467,500  hundred-weight.  The  fellah, 
who  used  to  get  from  one  to  two  piasters  per 


AdminiS' 
tration. 


The  Country  25 

day,  now  gets  3  to  5 ;  a  mason  or  carpenter  gets 
10  to  20  piasters  a  day  instead  of  5  to  8  as 
formerly;  meat  which  formerly  sold  for  one 
and  a  half  to  two  piasters  a  pound  now  brings 
three  to  three  and  a  half  piasters;  butter-oil 
was  formerly  two  and  a  half  to  three  piasters  a 
pound,  while  now  it  is  five;  the  official  rate  of 
interest  on  borrowed  money  has  dropped  from 
12  per  cent,  to  6  per  cent.,  and  while  the  fellah 
used  to  pay  50  per  cent,  to  60  per  cent,  on 
money  he  would  borrow,  he  need  now  pay  only 
9  per  cent,  to  12  per  cent.  The  increase  in 
price  of  land  has  been  noted  elsewhere.  Wheat 
alone,  being  regulated  largely  by  the  world 
market,  has  not  advanced  in  price.  These  facts 
all  point  to  the  betterment  of  material  condi- 
tions, but  their  significance  for  the  missionary 
enterprise  is  that  money  does  not  go  so  far, 
and,  both  for  the  living  of  the  missionary  and 
the  administration  of  the  work,  greater  ex- 
penses are  incurred  to-day  than  two  decades 
ago. 

In  her  exports  as  well  as  in  her  imports, 
Egypt  is  most  closely  related  to  Great  Britain. 
Of  the  imports,  38.6  per  cent,  and  54.3  per  cent, 
of  the  exports  have  to  do  with  the  British 
Empire.  The  largest  item  of  imports  is  "Tex- 
tiles," showing  that  Egypt  is  not  a  manufactur- 
ing country.     It  is  surprising  also  to  find  how 


Bailroads. 


26     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

much  cereal  flour  and  animal  food  is  imported. 
This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  country 
has  gone  so  extensively  into  the  growing  of  cot- 
ton, that  it  must  draw  upon  the  outside  world 
for  foodstuffs.  Of  $101,801,425  worth  of  ex- 
port trade,  86  per  cent,  was  for  cotton  and 
cotton  seed.  In  Egypt,  surely,  "  Cotton  is 
King."  One-sixteenth  of  the  world's  cotton 
comes  from  Egypt. 

Both  commerce  and  the  sightseer  have  com- 
bined to  give  to  Egypt  adequate  communica- 
tions. The  ISTile  has  always  been  the  great  high- 
way for  slow  transportation  and  travel,  but  the 
last  few  decades,  with  their  marvelous  develop- 
ment of  the  country  along  material  lines,  have 
compelled  a  considerable  extension  of  the  rail- 
road service.  There  are  over  1400  miles  of 
rails  owned  and  operated  by  the  state,  and  some 
800  miles  of  agricultural  light  railways  owned 
by  private  companies.  It  is  possible  to  travel 
from  Alexandria  to  Assuan,  678  miles,  -with  all 
the  comforts  of  sleeping-car  and  dining-car  ser- 
vice, in  some  24  hours.  If  you  wish  to  push 
farther  south,  a  first-class  river  boat  service  will 
carry  you  in  44  hours  (less,  coming  down)  from 
Assuan  to  Wadi  Haifa,  about  200  miles;  then 
the  Sudan  Military  Railway,  Kitchener's  nar- 
row-guage,  equipped  with  almost  every  luxury 
of  modern  railroad  service,  will  carry  you  in 


The  Country  27 

28  hours  from  Wadi  Haifa  to  Khartum.  If  you 
go  farther  south,  you  find  admirable  river  boat 
service  which  will  take  you  to  Gondokoro,  1131 
miles  beyond  Khartum.  In  Egypt  proper,  there 
are  2562  miles  of  telegraph  service.  Tele- 
phone service  is  being  extended  rapidly  in 
Lower  Egypt,  and  the  large  cities  enjoy  electric 
car  service,  so  that  for  ten  cents  you  may  go 
by  trolley  from  Cairo  to  the  Pyramids.  The 
postal  service  is  most  efficient;  the  enlargement 
of  its  work  during  the  past  two  decades  has 
been  remarkable,  as  is  seen  by  comparing  the 
12,500,000  letters  handled  in  1885  with  the 
50,700,000  handled  in  1905. 

At  the  close  of  this  rapid  survey  of  physical  Missions, 
and  material  conditions  in  Egypt,  we  can  point 
out  certain  general  relations  which  these  condi- 
tions sustain  to  the  missionary  enterprise. 
From  every  point  of  view,  we  are  dealing  with 
a  country  of  rare  interest.  This  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage in  the  public  presentation  of  mis- 
sionary work  in  Egypt.  We  are  dealing  with  a 
country  compact  and  unified.  This  simplifies 
the  problem  of  missions.  Egypt  is  also  accessi- 
ble, both  as  a  whole  and  as  to  the  several  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  It  has  a  climate  which, 
though  warm  and  trying,  is  entirely  salubrious. 
This  relieves  missionary  work  in  Egypt  of 
many  of  the   hardships   experienced   in  other 


28    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

fields.  Here  also  is  a  country  of  great  material 
possibilities,  and  enjoying,  at  the  present  time, 
material  prosperity  such  as  Egypt  has  never 
known  in  past  history.  This  material  pros- 
perity has  generated  a  spirit  of  commercialism 
and  worldliness  which  makes  more  difficult  the 
spiritual  conquest  of  the  country.  It  consti- 
tutes, however,  an  opportunity  of  winning  for 
Christ  the  garden  land  of  the  East,  a  land 
destined  to  be,  because  of  its  wealth  and  re- 
sources, a  land  of  dominating  influence  in  the 
Mohammedan  Orient. 


CHAPTEK  II 


THE    PEOPLE 


The  name  "  Eevpt  "  comes  to  us  from  the    Name  of 

o>^  J-  ^  _  Country. 

Greek,  Homer  referring  to  the  Nile  as  "Aigiip- 
tos."  This  word  cannot  be  traced  back  to  any 
Egyptian  or  Semitic  root.  It  may  possibly  be  a 
derivative  of  the  Sanskrit  root  "  gup  "  mean- 
ing "  to  guard."  This  would  bring  the  Greek 
name  into  parallelism  with  the  Hebrew  name 
for  Egypt,  "Mizraim,"  (Gen.  10:6),  which 
is  traced  to  a  root  meaning  "fortified."  This 
Hebrew  name  survives  to-day  in  the  Arabic 
"  Misr "  (popularly  "Masr"),  the  common 
name  for  Cairo  and  the  Egyptian  Nile  Valley. 
The  ancient  Egyptians  called  their  country 
"  Kimet,"  from  a  root  word  meaning  "  black," 
designating  the  soil  of  Eg^-pt  thus,  to  distin- 
guish it  from  the  desert  land  on  either  side. 

It  is  impossible  to  speak  with  certainty  of  origin. 
the  origin  of  the  Egyptian  race.  The  Bibli- 
cal record  and  the  early  traditions  point  to  an 
Asiatic  origin.  Yet  both  the  Biblical  account 
and  certain  discoveries  in  Egypt  indicate  some 
affinity  with  the  Ethiopian  races  of  Central 
Africa.  The  dominating  racial  type  is  cer- 
tainly Caucasian,  but  probably  this  race,  upon 
29 


30    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

coming  from  Asia,  found  in  the  Nile  Valley  a 
limited  population  of  some  autochthonous  race 
of  Ethiopian  origin.  Whether  this  inferior 
race  was  absorbed  or  gradually  died  out  may 
not  be  known,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the 
Egyptian  race,  while  possessing  characteristics 
which  sharply  distinguish  it  from  the  Aryan 
races,  must  not  and  cannot  be  classified  at  all 
with  the  negro  races. 

In  surveying  the  history  of  the  country,  we 
shall  see  that  Egypt  has  undergone  successive 
invasions.  Hyksos,  Ethiopians,  Assyrians, 
Persians,  Greeks,  Eomans,  Arabs,  Turks — these 
all  have  swept  into  Egypt  with  their  conquering 
armies.  It  might  be  expected,  then,  that  the 
Egyptians  would  be  a  very  mixed  race.  Yet  the 
very  opposite  is  the  fact.  The  Egyptian  race 
persists,  the  same  in  type  and  general  character- 
istics as  in  the  days  of  Abraham.  In  the  pre- 
vious chapter,  it  was  suggested  that  this  was  due 
to  the  unvarying  influence  of  soil,  climate,  oc- 
cupation, and  life  in  the  Nile  Valley. 

In  describing  the  Egyptian,  it  will  avoid  con- 
fusion if  we  first  mark  him  oflF  from  other  races 
whose  representatives  are  often  in  evidence 
along  the  Nile, — races  which,  for  some  reason, 
have  not  become  absorbed  in  the  current  of 
Egyptian  life.  Such  are  the  Arabian  dwellers 
in  towns,  who  still  trace  their  lineage  back  to  the 


HEAD    SHEIKH    OF    SINAITIC   PENINSULA 


The  People  31 

Arabian  peninsula.  Also  the  Berbers  wlio  have 
come  down  from  the  barren  and  narrow  valley 
of  Nubia  to  hire  themselves  out  as  servants  to 
the  foreign  population  in  Egypt.  Their  dis- 
like to  the  Egyptians  has  prevented  intermar- 
riage and  has  kept  them  a  distinct  race.  The 
Sudan  negroes  are  also  to  be  noted.  Slavery 
brought  dovm  most  of  these,  and,  since  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  there  has  been  a  steady 
though  slender  stream  of  them  into  Egypt.  We 
also  pass  by  the  Orientals  of  neighboring  coun- 
tries— Turks,  Syrians,  Armenians,  Algerians 
— and,  for  the  present,  the  European  popula- 
tion, which  the  census  of  1897  set  at  112,526. 

Thus  we  come  to  those  who  may  be  properly 
designated  as  Egyptians.  Among  these,  how- 
ever, diiferences  exist  which  cannot  be  pointed 
out  wdthin  the  limits  of  this  brief  chapter. 
There  are  differences  of  complexion,  fineness  of 
features,  dress,  dialect,  social  customs,  due  to 
residence,  occupation,  religion,  and  mode  of 
life.  For  example,  there  are  social  customs 
which  obtain  among  Copts  which  Moslems  do 
not  observe ;  and  the  dialect  of  Upper  Egypt  is 
held  in  contempt  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Delta. 

Three  types  of  Egyptians,  however,  are  suf-   Three! 
ficiently  differentiated  to  receive  separate  men- 
tion.    There  are  the  fellaliin,  or  peasants,  who 


32    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

stand  at  the  lower  end  of  the  social  scale,  materi- 
ally and  intellectually.  There  are  the  town 
people,  who  are  engaged  in  trade  and  industries 
rather  than  agriculture ;  these  stand  considerably 
above  the  fellahin  in  wealth  and  intelligence. 
Then  there  are  the  Cairenes,  for  Cairo  is  to 
Egypt  what  Paris  is  to  France — a  kingdom 
within  a  kingdom.  The  Cairene  is  a  type  by 
himself,  and  the  difference  between  him  and  the 
inhabitant  of  a  large  town  is  even  greater  than 
between  the  latter  and  the  fellah.  The  towns- 
man is  simply  a  fellah  retired  and  refined  and 
^  come  to  town  to  live;  the  Cairene  is  a  distinct 
type  in  traditions,  ideals  and,  pretty  much,  in 
manners. 
*-i^*'f^*'**  To  describe  the  Egyptian  physically,  he 
iBticH.  stands  about  five  feet  eight  or  nine  inches  tall; 
strong  and  massive,  rarely  stout,  while  the 
women  are  generally  slender.  The  face  is  oval; 
the  complexion  yellowish,  but  soft  and  clear; 
the  hair  is  black  and  wavy,  seldom  curly.  The 
forehead  is  not  high,  but  is  rather  prominent. 
The  eyes  are  set  deep  and  are  black  and  bril- 
liant; the  eyelashes  are  remarkable  for  the 
dense,  double,  black  fringe  which  they  present. 
The  nose  is  straight,  a  bit  flattened  and  thick, 
and  is  clearly  marked  off  from  the  forehead  by 
the  low  bridge  of  the  nose.  The  mouth  is  wide 
and  the  lips  are  full;. the  jaws  do  not  project  as 


The  People  33 

with  the  negro.  The  beard  is  black  and  curly, 
but  scanty.  The  whole  body  is  well-propor- 
tioned, and  the  carriage  is  dignified  and 
graceful. 

The  dress  of  the  Egyptian,  of  course,  varies 
with  the  wealth  and  social  rank  of  the  indi- 
vidual. A  pair  of  short  and  wide  cotton 
breeches,  with  an  indigo-dyed  cotton  shirt,  as  an 
addition  or  as  an  alternative,  will  make  up  the 
working  garb  of  the  peasant.  If  dressed  up  for 
a  special  occasion,  he  will  add  to  his  outfit  a 
cloak  of  brown  homespun  goat's  wool  and,  pos- 
sibly, pointed  red  or  broad  yellow  slippers,  and 
a  close-fitting  skull  cap,  or  a  thick,  red  fez  with 
a  blue  silk  tassel,  around  which  is  coiled  a 
white  or  red  head-cloth. 

To  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  the  social 
scale  and  consider  the  Cairene  who  still  adheres 
to  native  customs,  we  have  the  following  elabor- 
ate outfit:  baggy  trousers,  shirt,  striped  vest 
of  cotton  or  silk,  long  cloak  (leaf tan)  reaching 
to  the  ankles  and  with  sleeves  extending  beyond 
the  finger  tips,  a  colored  jhawl  wound  around 
the  waist  as  a  girdle,  an  outer  robe  (gibheh) 
which  resembles  a  cloak  with  sleeves.  The 
head-dress  will  be  a  small  cotton  cap,  a  fez,  a 
headcloth  of  white  muslin.  The  feet  will  be 
provided  with  socks  and  red,  pointed  slippers, 
4 


Dress. 


34     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

possibly    with    soft    inner    slippers    of    yellow 
morocco. 

The  dress  of  the  fellalia,  or  peasant  woman, 
is  soon  described,  consisting  of  the  two  articles 
which  constitute  the  fellah's  working  garb,  plus 
a  dark  blue  cotton  gown  and  a  black  muslin  veil. 

To  attempt  details  in  the  description  of  the 
elaborate  apparel  of  women  in  the  city,  would 
be  to  set  a  discount  in  a  few  years  upon  one's 
reputation  for  accuracy,  for  even  in  the  Orient 
styles  change,  and,  both  in  cut  and  color,  cos- 
tumes vary.  Speaking  quite  generally,  how- 
ever, we  have  the  shirt,  the  baggy  trousers  and 
the  gown;  a  pretty  kerchief,  folded  diagonally 
and  tied  over  the  head,  and  over  this  a  long 
scarf.  The  feet  will  be  bare  or  else  encased  in 
stockings,  with  shoes,  clogs,  or  slippers.  This 
is  the  house  dress,  but,  as  women  are  not  visible 
to  strangers  in  their  homes,  a  description  of 
their  street  dress  is  more  important.  This  calls 
for  the  addition  of  a  face-veil  which  falls  from 
just  below  the  eyes  almost  to  the  feet,  a  covering 
(haharah)  whicli  envelops  the  entire  person, 
and  shoes.  All  that  may  be  seen,  therefore,  is 
the  eyes. 

Over  against  these  descriptions  of  Egyptian 
costumes  is  to  be  set,  very  emphatically,  the 
statement  that  Western  manners.  Western  cus- 
toms and  Western  costumes  have  made  great 


The  People  35 

inroads  upon  Oriental  life.  All  the  effendis — 
young  men  related  to  government  service — 
dress  entirely  in  the  Western  dress,  save  that  they 
retain  the  tarhoush.  Even  the  women  and  girls 
are,  in  many  instances,  gradually  approximat- 
ing "Western  styles  in  their  house  dress,  while 
occasionally  they  are  even  seen  in  public  with 
unveiled  faces  and  wearing  European  hats. 

The  home  of  a  fellah  is  unspeakably  humble    Description 
and  pathetic  and  dirty.     The  house  will  consist,    Life. 
ordinarily,  of  one  room.     The  walls  are  of  sun- 
dried  mud  brick;  the  roof  of  cornstalks;  the 
floor  is  Mother  Earth ;  there  is  a  doorway,  but  ' 
often  no  door  hangs  there;  a  small  opening  in 
the  wall   serves   as   window,   without  glass  or 
window-panes;  an  opening  in  the  roof  lets  out 
the  smoke.    And  this  one  room,  twenty  by  fifteen 
feet   perhaps,    is    parlor,    dining-room,    sitting- 
room,  workshop,  bedroom. 

Again  we  go  at  once  to  the  opposite  extreme 
of  the  typically  Egyptian  scale,  warning  the 
reader  that  the  bulk  of  the  population  only  ap- 
proximates one  extreme  or  the  other.  In  the 
Mohammedan  quarter  of  Cairo  the  streets  are 
narrow.  With  arms  outstretched,  you  can  almost 
touch  the  wall  on  either  side.  Of  course  no  carri- 
age can  pass.  There  may  be  noise  of  bargaining, 
quarreling,  conversation,  in  the  street,  but  the 
houses  rise  silently  and  mysteriously  on  either 


36     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

side  with  their  meshruhiyah  (lattice  work)  win- 
dows, through  which  pretty  faces  may  peer 
without  danger  of  being  seen.  You  knock  at  a 
wooden  door — a  good-sized  door  it  is,  with  a 
smaller  door  cut  in  it.  There  is  no  door-bell, 
for  the  prophet  inveighed  against  them.  The 
doorkeeper  takes  his  time.  You  wait  patiently, 
remembering  the  proverbial  Egyptian  saying, 
"God  is  with  the  patient,"  or  that  other, 
"Haste  comes  from  the  Devil."  Meanwhile 
notice  the  Arabic  inscription  over  the  door, 
"  God  is  the  Creator,  the  Eternal."  This  is  a 
charm  against  the  evil  eye. 

At  last  the  door  opens.  You  step  in  off  the 
street.  You  are  in  a  narrow  passage-way  which 
bends  sharply  to  the  right,  so  as  to  cut  off 
further  view  from  the  street.  Soon,  however, 
you  come  to  an  open  court.  In  the  center  there 
is  a  well,  or  a  fountain,  possibly  a  tree.  Rooms 
open  into  the  court.  In  none  of  these  rooms 
are  women  to  be  found.  These  rooms  are  too 
public  for  use  by  the  inmates  of  the  harem. 
Into  one  of  these  rooms  you  are  ushered.  The 
Oriental  leaves  his  slippers  at  the  entrance  and 
steps  in  upon  the  tiled  floor,  to  take  his  seat 
upon  a  raised  platform  covered  over  with  a  car- 
pet. The  woodwork  may  be  of  the  interesting 
geometric  panels  so  characteristic  of  this  land 
where  heat  causes  ordinary  woodwork  to  warp. 


The  People  37 

No  chairs,  no  table,  no  fireplace!  The  raised 
platform  takes  the  place  of  chairs,  and  there  you 
sit  tailor-fashion.  If  a  meal  is  to  be  served, 
a  stand  will  be  brought  in.  If  it  is  cold,  a 
brazier  of  charcoal  will  meet  the  need. 

When  the  host  meets  you,  salutations  are  ex- 
changed, and  some  of  these,  from  time  to  time, 
even  punctuate  the  subsequent  conversation. 
"  May  your  day  be  happy."  "How  are  you  ?" 
"  You  have  honored  us."  "  Peace  be  to  you." 
"You  have  brought  light  to  us."  For  each  of 
these  greetings  there  is  an  appropriate  reply. 
Seated  upon  the  raised  platform  already  re- 
ferred to,  the  conversation  proceeds.  It  will 
not  be  about  the  weather ;  that  were  too  tame  a 
subject.  ISTeither  do  politics,  in  the  Western 
sense  of  the  word,  figure  largely  in  conversa- 
tion; the  Egyptian  sustains  too  slight  a  relation 
to  the  government  of  his  country  to  warrant  the 
formation  of  political  parties.  However,  the 
revolutionary  changes — industrial,  social,  econ- 
omic— which  are  taking  place  in  Egypt,  af- 
ford a  fertile  theme  for  conversation.  The  in- 
vasion of  Egypt  by  the  Western  world  is  a  vital 
and  interesting  topic  for  discussioa  Or,  the 
conversation  may,  without  embarrassment,  take 
a  religious  turn.  Religion  is  a  matter  of  hered- 
ity rather  than  of  conviction,  and  may  thus  be 
discussed  with  impunity. 


38    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

After  a  short  period  of  conversation,  coffee 
is  served — a  small  cup  of  black  coffee,  one-third 
grounds,  the  whole  cup  a  bare  tablespoonful. 
It  is  courtesy  to  the  guest  that  this  be  served.  It 
is  a  tribute  to  the  host's  hospitality  that  this  be 
drunk.  No  easy  task  if  it  be  your  tenth  call 
and  you  do  not  care  for  coffee. 

If  our  party  were  made  up  of  ladies,  it  would 
be  possible  to  visit  another  part  of  the  house.  A 
door  from  the  court  leads  up  dark  stairs  to  the 
harem.  Here,  on  the  second  story,  is  a  large 
sitting-room  (Kaa),  then  a  vestibule  cooled  by 
roof  windows,  then  several  other  rooms.  If 
you  inquire  for  the  bedroom,  any  one  of  these 
rooms  may  be  pointed  out  to  you,  as  indeed  any 
one  of  them  may  be  so  used.  A  mattress,  a 
pillow,  a  blanket,  rolled  up  in  the  corner  by  day 
and  spread  out  on  the  floor  by  night,  quickly 
convert  a  sitting-room  into  a  bedroom.  It  is 
to  be  said,  however,  that  the  invasion  of  West- 
ern life  has  brought  regular  bedsteads  into  hun- 
dreds of  Oriental  homes. 

Interesting  x  i  i         i  r  r^   i  t     •  r      ' 

Topics.  It  would  take  us  too  far  afield  if,  m  this 
brief  sketch  of  Egyptian  life,  we  ventured  to 
portray  tht)se  interesting  scenes  and  customs 
which  characterize  Cairene  life  and  afford 
endless  amusement  and  entertainment  to  the 
Western  traveler.  A  typically  Egyptian  meal, 
with  its  strange  dishes  and  its  unusual  service, 


The  People  39 

with  the  gracious  and  ungracious   dipping  of 
hands  into  a  common  dish.     Or   again,   those 
street  scenes — the  figurative  cries  of  vendors, 
the  hypocrisies  and  pleasantries  of  a  bargain- 
ing, the  theatrical  excitement  of  a  street  brawl, 
the   romantic   touches   of   public   coffee-houses. 
Or  again,  the  social  functions  and  amusements 
which. obtain — the  public  bath,  the  weird  mo- 
notonous singing  and  instrumental  music,  the 
public  recitations   of   romances,   the  games   of 
chance  or  checkers.     Or  again,  the  funeral  cus- 
toms, from  the  piercing  shrieks  of  the  women, 
when  breath  has  just  left  the  body,  through  the 
funeral  rites  with  the  strange  and  solemn  dirge 
of  the  men  in  the  funeral  procession,  to  the 
ceremonies  of  the  forty  days  of  wailing  which 
follow  and  which  often  become  a  veritable  deg- 
radation to  society,  and  especially  to  the  women 
of  Egypt.      Or  still  again,   an  Egyptian  mar- 
riage,  with  its  unromantic  beginning  through 
the  suggestions  and  plans  of  the  parents  of  the 
betrothed    couple,     its    feasts    extending    over 
several   days,   and  its  curious  processions   and 
social    obligations.      These    and    other    details 
must  be  passed  by  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  but 
they  are  well  worthy  of  examination  by  him 
who  would  catch  the  spirit  of  native  life. 

To  get  at  the  heart  of  the  Egyptian  social    woman- 
system,   we  must  consider  the  character   and  Degraded. 


40    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

position  of  woman  in  Egypt,  for  no  race  or 
people  can  rise  above  the  level  of  its  woman- 
hood. And  the  most  superficial  consideration 
of  social  conditions  in  Egypt  must  bring  in  a 
pathetic  verdict  concerning  the  degradation  of 
womanhood  in  Egypt. 

Womanhood  is  degraded  hy  seclusion.  The 
social  rule  is  that  the  higher  the  rank  in  society, 
the  more  secluded  will  be  the  women  of  the 
house.  Those  of  the  poorer  classes  go  out  un- 
veiled, or  only  partially  veiled,  perforce — they 
must  earn  a  living  by  the  sale  of  goods  of  their 
own  or  others'  make.  Women  of  the  middle 
classes  will  not  appear  upon  the  streets  except 
they  be  closely  veiled,  as  already  described. 
Women  of  the  upper  classes,  save  as  they  have 
adopted  Western  customs  and  dress,  go  out 
closely  veiled,  in  closed  carriages  and  with  the 
curtains  drawn  half-way  down  the  windows. 
The  houses  are  built  to  admit  this  same  seclu- 
sion of  the  women.  A  typical  native  woman 
will  pride  herself  upon  the  fact  that  she  has 
never  been  seen  by  a  stranger.  Indeed,  loose- 
ness of  morals  is  so  associated  with  the  disre- 
gard of  this  law  of  seclusion  that  it  becomes  em- 
barrassing to  know  how  the  rule  may  with  pro- 
priety be  disregarded  even  by  Christians.  The 
mission  schools,  the  hospitals  and  the  churches 
must  give  due  regard  to  these  conceptions  of 


The  People  41 

social  propriety.  The  curtain  dra^vn  do^vn  the 
middle  of  Christian  churches  in  Egypt  and 
separating  the  men  from  the  women  is  still 
a  necessity.  The  missionaries,  however,  can 
insist  on  the  curtain  being  drawn  down  the 
middle  of  the  church,  instead  of  acress  some 
back  corner. 

The  pathos  of  life  in  a  harem  is  its  empti- 
ness. "  To  eat,  to  dress,  to  chatter,  to  sleep, 
to  dream  away  the  sultry  hours  on  a  divan,  to 
stimulate  their  husband's  affections  and  keep 
him  to  themselves — this  is  to  live  in  a  harem." 
This  limitation  of  personal  liberty  spells  the 
limitation  of  woman's  intellectual  thought  and 
sympathy.  "An  Englishwoman  asked  an  Egypt- 
ian lady  how  she  passed  her  time.  '  I  sit 
on  this  sofa,'  she  answered,  '  and  when  I  am 
tired,  I  cross  over  and  sit  on  that.'  " 

We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  find 
womanhood  in  Egypt  degraded  also  hy  igno- 
rance and  illiteracy.  The  census  of  1897 
showed  that  in  all  Egypt  only  11  of  every  1,000 
women  could  read  and  write;  although  1'24:  of 
every  1,000  men.  When  the  foreign  popula- 
tion is  left  out  the  record  is  still  worse,  showing 
only  3  of  every  1,000  women  who  can  read  and 
write;  although  112  of  every  1,000  men.  A 
common  answer  to  the  missionary's  invitation 
to  have  girls  sent  to  school  used  to  be,  "  What's 


42    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

the  use,  women  have  no  minds !  "  The  last 
decade  has  undonbtedly  witnessed  great  prog- 
ress along  these  lines,  but,  considering  the  ex- 
tent of  the  need,  much  remains  to  be  done. 

Woman  in  Egypt  is  also  degraded  hy  a  love- 
less marriage  system.  It  has  already  been  in- 
'timated  that  the  engagement  is  brought  about, 
not  by  the  acquaintance  of  the  contracting  par- 
ties with  each  other,  nor  by  their  love  for  each 
other,  but  purely  as  a  business  act  of  the  parents 
on  both  sides.  Frequently,  the  young  man  does 
not  see  his  betrothed  until  the  night  of  the 
wedding.  Post-nuptial  affection  is  hardly  to  be 
expected,  and  is  rarely  realized.  The  wife  is 
in  no  sense  her  husband's  partner  in  life,  but 
rather  a  toy  or  a  slave.  "  Excluding  the  highest 
strata  of  society,  a  man  generally  marries  in 
order  to  secure  a  permanent  servant  for  himself 
and  his  immediate  family  relations."  * 

Woman  is  degraded  further  hy  Moslem  po- 
lygamy. "  Take  in  marriage,  of  the  women 
who  please  you,  two,  three  or  four,"  says  the 
Koran.  In  addition  to  these  four  legal  wives, 
an  unlimited  number  of  concubines  is  allowed. 
It  may  be  true  that  comparatively  few  Mos- 
lems have  more  than  one  wife  at  one  time,  but 
the  reason  is  to  be  found  in  the  expense  in- 
volved  in  maintaining   so   large   a   household, 

*  "  The  Mobammedan  World  of  To-day,"  25. 


The  People  43 

and  in  the  fact  that  divorce  provides  a  more  eco' 
nomical  and  convenient  form  of  indulgence. 
The  degradation  of  womanhood  is  sufficiently 
accomplished  by  the  legal  possibility  of  po- 
lygamy. 

Finally,  the  degradation  of  woman  is  made 
complete  hy  the  Moslem  divorce  system.  This 
is  very  simple  indeed.  A  man  need  merely 
say  to  the  woman,  "  Thou  art  divorced,"  and  lo, 
she  is  divorced.  The  prevalence  of  divorce 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following :  "  A 
prominent  Moslem  has  said,  in  conversation, 
that  not  more  than  five  per  cent,  of  Mohamme- 
dans in  Egypt  retain  the  first  wife  to  the  day 
of  her  death."*  "  There  are  many  men  in  this 
country  who,  in  the  course  of  ten  years,  have 
married  as  many  as  twenty,  thirty,  or  more 
wives;  and  women  not  far  advanced  in  age 
who  have  been  wives  to  a  dozen  or  more  men 
successively,  "t 

To  sum  up  the  situation  we  quote  Stanley   Authori- 
Lane-Poole,   a   recognized   authority   upon   the    tative 
social  life  of  modern  Egypt,  but  who  is  not      ^    *^  *™* 
writing  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  missionary 
or  reformer.     He  says: 

"  The  fatal  spot  in  Mohammedanism  is  the 
position  of  women.     Women  in  the  East  are 

*  "  The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day,"  25. 
t  E.  "W.  Lane,  "  The  Modern  Egyptians,"  Chap.  VI, 


44     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

the  rich  man's  toys  and  the  poor  man's  drudges. 
Their  whole  training  is  one  vast  blunder.  They 
are  brought  up  with  the  sole  aim  and  object  of 
getting  a  husband,  and  the  objectionable  ac- 
quirements of  the  Ghawazy  dancing  girls  are 
held  up  to  them  as  the  fittest  qualifications  of  a 
wife.  They  are  completely  secluded  from  the 
other  sex,  save  in  the  cases  of  their  own  in- 
timate relations,  and  never  see  a  strange  man 
without  the  motive  of  marriage.  The  de- 
graded view  of  womanhood  taken  by  women 
themselves,  of  course,  reacts  upon  the  men.  To 
them  a  woman  is  desirable  solely  on  account  of 
her  sex,  and  any  ideal  of  chivalry,  so  potent  an 
element  in  the  noblest  manhood,  becomes  im- 
possible in  the  Moslem  social  state.  And  this 
false  relation  between  husband  and  wife  makes 
itself  felt  in  the  bringing  up  of  children.  The 
early  years  of  childhood,  perhaps  the  most 
critical  in  a  whole  life,  are  tainted  by  the  cor- 
rupt influences  of  the  harem,  where  the  boy 
learns  that  sensual  attitude  towards  women 
which  is  the  curse  of  his  after  life,  and  the 
girls  acquire  those  abandoned  notions  of  the 
requirements  of  the  opposite  sex  which  spoil 
her  for  the  highest  functions  of  womanhood. 
The  refining  power  of  a  lady  is  seldom  pos- 
sessed or  exercised  in  the  East.  The  restrain- 
ing and  purifying  influence  of  wife  on  hus- 


SV 

^y 

V  ^ 

« 

V 

\i 

■1" 

'>t'" 

\ 

The  People  45 

band,  of  mother  on  child,  of  a  hostess  upon 
her  guests,  is  never  felt  in  a  Mohammedan 
state.     In  a  word,  the  finest  springs  of  society 

are  wanting    The  worst  of  this 

deplorable  state  of  things  is  that  there  seems 
no  reasonable  prospect  of  improvement.  The 
Mohammedan  social  system  is  so  thoroughly 
bound  up  with  the  religion  that  it  appears  an 
almost  hopeless  task  to  attempt  to  separate  the 
two As  long  as  the  Mohamme- 
dan religion  exists,  the  social  life  with  which, 
unfortunately,  it  has  become  associated,  will 
probably  survive;  and  while  the  latter  prevails 
in  Egypt  we  cannot  expect  the  higher  results 
of  civilization."  * 

If  the  estimate  be  correct  that  45,000,000  of  ^^*^'* 
the  earth's  population  speak  the  Arabic  lan~ 
guage,  then  we  have  in  Egypt  one-fifth  of  the 
world's  Arabic-speaking  population.  This  is 
also  a  dominating  fifth,  for  no  one  can  con- 
test the  fact  that  Egypt,  more  specifically  Cairo, 
is  the  Athens  of  Arabic  learning.  The  difficul- 
ties which  a  mastery  of  this  language  presents 
are  such  that  a  veteran  missionary  wrote :  "  I 
would  rather  traverse  Africa  from  Alexandria 
to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  than  undertake  a 
secoUid  time  to  master  the  Arabic  language."  t 

*  G.  Lansing,  "  Egypt's  Princes,"  8. 
f  Stanley  Lane-Poole,  "  Cairo." 


Lauguage. 


46     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

The  advantage  which  the  missionary  to 
Egypt  enjoys  of  having  to  master  but  one  lan- 
guage, is  more  than  offset  by  the  difficulty  of 
this  language  as  compared  w^ith  other  foreign 
languages  (the  Chinese  alone  excepted),  and 
by  the  high  literary  standards  of  Egyptian  Ara- 
bic as  compared  with  the  Arabic  of  other  lands. 
Difficult  in  pronunciation,  difficult  in  its  ex- 
tensive vocabulary,  and  difficult  in  its  grammati- 
cal construction,  it  may  well  be  regarded,  first 
and  last,  as  the  greatest  difficulty  to  be  en< 
coimtered  by  the  missionary.  Yet  so  essential 
to  missionary  usefulness  is  the  mastery  of  this 
language  that  we  find  this  judgment  recorded: 
"  No  matter  how  devoted,  pious,  zealous,  and 
full  of  the  Spirit  a  young  man  may  be,  if  he 
has  not  some  ability  for  learning  languages, 
and  is  not  studious  in  his  habits,  so  as  l^o  per- 
severe year  after  year  until  he  masters  the 
Arabic,  he  will  be  a  failure  as  a  missionary."  * 

Arabic  literature  is  extensive  enough  so  far 
as  quantity  is  concerned,  but  it  is  quite  limited 
in  its  scope.  Religion  and  jurisprudence 
preoccupy  about  one-fourth  of  all  Arabic  litera- 
ture. Grammar,  rhetoric  and  philology  have 
an  absurd  prominence.  History  is  given  rea- 
sonable treatment.    But  the  sciences — the  physi- 

*  A,  Watson,  " The  American  Mission  in  Egypt,"  422. 


The  People  47 

cal,  biological  and  mathematical  sciences — are 
scandalously  neglected. 

Are  the  Egyptians  educated?  This  is  a  Education. 
common  question.  Taking  the  country  as  a 
whole,  the  census  of  1897  would  scarcely  per- 
mit of  an  affirmative  answer.  Leaving  out  of 
our  count  the  foreign  population,  we  learn  that 
only  112  out  of  every  1,000  of  the  male  popu- 
lation above  seven  years  of  age,  can  read  and 
write;  and  only  3  out  of  every  1,000  women. 
The  general  average  of  illiteracy  for  both 
sexes  is  94  per  cent.  In  the  United  States  it  is 
less  than  11  per  cent. 

The  standards  of  Mohammedan  education 
differ  so  widely  from  our  Western  standards 
that  even  those  highly  educated,  according  to 
Oriental  judgment,  would  scarcely  be  regarded 
as  such  by  us.  The  Azhar,  the  great  Mohamme- 
dan university  at  Cairo,  older  than  Oxford  or 
Cambridge,  enrolling  10,000  students,  is  illus- 
trative of  the  stagnation  of  Mohammedan  edu- 
cation. Its  curriculum  includes  syntax,  rheto- 
ric, versification,  logic,  theology,  the  exposition 
of  the  Koran,  the  traditions  of  the  Prophet. 
A  recent  reform  movement  succeeded  in  add- 
ing geography,  history  and  chirography,  but 
tliis  movement  came  to  an  untimely  end  by 
the  death  of  the  leader,  Mohammed  Abdu, 
and    its    ideals    have    been    repudiated.     The 


48    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

course  of  study  in  the  Azhar  covers  some 
twelve  years.  A  Moslem  who  was  teaching 
Arabic  to  the  missionaries,  a  graduate  of  this 
university,  coming  across  the  word  "Asia," 
asked,  "  Where  is  Asia  ?  Is  it  in  Europe  ?  " 
He  would  hardly  believe  that  the  earth  was 
round.  This  is  typical  of  the  unscientific  char- 
acter of  Moslem  education  which  heads  up  in  the 
Azhar,  but  which  distributes  its  influence 
throughout  the  country  by  some  9,500  Moslem 
schools  in  which  are  found  some  190,000  pupils. 
Later  we  shall  take  notice  of  a  new  and  quite 
different  stream  of  influences  induced  by  West- 
tern  education,  through  which  the  intellectual 
redemption  of  Egypt  may  be  hoped  for. 
Intellectual        Kipling  says  "  East  is  East  and  West  is  West, 

Differences.  -,  •,  in  .»5-r->i 

and  never  the  two  shall  meet.  i^erhaps  no- 
where is  the  difference  more  noticeable  than 
in  the  intellectual  traits  of  the  Egyptian,  the 
psychology  of  his  mind.  Again  and  again  was 
it  brought  out  at  the  recent  Cairo  Conference 
of  Workers  among  Mohammedans,  that  the 
Oriental  mind  views  truth,  and  reasons  about 
it,  in  a  different  way  from  the  Western  mind. 
"  Illustration  is  more  potent  than  argument, 
and  analogy  more  convincing  than  proof.'" 
The  Oriental  point  of  view  must  be  reckoned 
with  in  conversation  and  debates.  A  missionary 
in  the  Orient,  though  not  in  Egypt,  wished  to 


The  People  49 

urge  upon  a  hearer  of  tlie  Word  the  duty  of 
his  becoming  a  doer  of  the  Word  also.  He  told 
him  the  parable  of  Matthew  21 :  28-32,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  make  the  application,  "  Which  of  the 
two  sons  is  to  be  commended  ?  "  "  The  'one 
who  replied  politely  to  his  father,  even  though 
he  did  not  go,"  was  the  instant  reply. 

Summing  up  Egyptian  characteristics,  both  i-eading 
good  and  bad,  politeness  may  first  be  men- 
tioned. This  trait  finds  expression  in  the 
forms  of  address.  "  My  brother,"  "  my  sister," 
"  my  uncle,"  "  my  aunt,"  are  among  the  most 
common  forms  of  address.  A  more  formal, 
yet  equally  common,  form  of  address,  is  in  the 
third  person,  "  How  is  your  honor  ?  "  "  Your 
honor's  children,  are  they  well  ? "  The  host 
and  all  guests  will  rise  upon  the  entrance  or 
departure  of  a  fellow-guest.  The  training  of 
a  missionary  calls,  therefore,  for  the  replacing, 
at  a  thousand  points,  of  Western  brusqueness 
by  Oriental  courtesy. 

The  Egyptian  is  also  exceedingly  hospitable. 
The  chance  visitor  is  always  invited  to  par- 
take of  food  if  it  be  meal  time.  Wedding  feasts 
are  commonly  open  to  the  public.  Abraham's 
cordial  reception  of  the  three  strangers  who 
appeared  to  him  at  Mamre  finds  its  counter- 
part in  modern  Egyptian  hospitality. 

The  cheerfulness  and  fortitude  of  the  Egyp- 
5 


50     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

tian  is  often  commented  upon.  There  may  not 
be  the  boisterous  mirth  which  so  often  obtains 
in  the  West,  but  there  is  a  sustained  cheerful- 
ness and  fortitude  even  in  the  midst  of  reverses. 
A  play  upon  yvords(nukta)  is  the  most  com- 
mon form  of  wit.  Unfortunately,  the  stan- 
dards of  story-telling  are  so  low  that  coarseness 
and  indecency  characterize  only  too  frequently 
the  conversation  of  even  the  upper  classes. 
Drollery  is  appreciated  as  in  proverbs,  such  as 
''  The  camel  was  asked,  '  In  what  are  you  skill- 
ful?' He  replied,  'Winding  silk,' "—refer- 
ring to  the  need  of  deft  and  supple  hands  in 
the  latter  operation.  Or  again,  "  The  mon- 
key's mother  thinks  him  a  gazelle." 

The  retentive  memory  of  the  Egyptians, 
rather  than  the  development  of  the  reasoning 
faculties,  calls  for  comment.  Many  a  Moslem 
can  recite  extended  sections  of  the  Koran,  and 
even  the  whole  book,  from  memory.  This 
faculty  has  often  been  put  to  good  account 
where  the  Gospel  story  is  heard  by  one  and 
repeated  to  another. 
**''"'**'awe  Among  the  reprehensible  traits  of  character 
Traits.  IS  proneucss  to  deceit.  Life  is  one  great  lie.  The 
coinage  of  the  country,  although  made  in 
Europe,  bears  the  statement  "  Stamped  in 
Cairo."  The  market  price  that  is  quoted  for 
any  article  is  twice  or  more  what  the  salesman 


The  People  51 

expects  to  receive.  Bad  news  is  invariably  sup- 
pressed or  hopelessly  modified  through  a  false 
standard  of  politeness.  So  great  is  this  deceit, 
that  it  takes  an  Oriental  to  fathom  the  depths  of 
Oriental  deceit.  An  apparently  regular  fune- 
ral procession  was  found  once  to  be  an  eifort  to 
smuggle  into  the  city  free  of  duty  a  coffin  full  of 
cheeses. 

Indolence  is  frequently  charged  against  the 
Egyptian.  This  charge,  however,  needs  to  be 
qualified.  It  is  true  that  in  Egypt,  as  in  the 
Orient  generally,  there  is  a  woful  absence  of 
punctuality,  and  dilatoriness  is  the  rule. 
Western  energy  and  push  and  impatience 
strike  the  Oriental  as  insane  frenzy.  An  ordin- 
ary appointment  is  punctually  (?)  met  an  hour 
later,  or,  if  really  urgent,  the  party  will  arrive 
an  hour  earlier  and  wait.  Nevertheless,  the 
Egyptian  has  a  wonderful  capacity  for  work. 
The  boatmen,  the  porters,  the  fellahin,  and  the 
soldiers  in  Egypt,  are  often  found  carrying  an 
amount  of  work  which  would  be  the  undoing  of 
their  Western  compeers. 

Conservatism,  which  often  degenerates  into 
obstinacy,  is  also  a  national  characteristic.  The 
Egyptian  is  averse  to  change.  A  dogged  and 
unyielding  immobility  is  often  displayed  even 
where  reason  and  force  invite  a  change.  The 
most  severe  and  cruel  beatings,  before  British 


52    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

occupation,  were  often  unavailing  in  persuad- 
ing the  fellah  to  pay  his  taxes.  Fifty  years  ago, 
Miss  Whately  wrote  of  the  hindrances  to  mis- 
sionary work  from  this  source,  "As  a  rule,  the 
old  women  are  my  greatest  trials  among  the 
poor — so  obstinate,  so  dirty,  so  prejudiced,  and 
so  silly.  Poor  old  creatures!  The  young  are 
the  hope  certainly ;  but  the  old  are  like  a  strong 
rope  dragging  them  the  wrong  way." 

Sensuality  is  perhaps  the  supremely  repre- 
hensible trait  of  Egyptian  life.  Enough  has 
already  been  intimated  in  the  section  describing 
women  to  make  it  unnecessary  to  enlarge  upon 
the  subject  here.  Speaking  of  this  trait, 
Edward  W.  Lane  says,  "  It  is  even  said,  and, 
I  believe,  with  truth,  that,  in  this  respect,  they 
exceed  the  neighboring  nations,  whose  religion 
and  civil  institutions  are  similar ;  and  that  their 
country  still  deserves  the  appellation  of  '  the 
abode  of  the  wicked,'  which,  in  the  Koran,  is, 
according  to  the  best  commentators,  applied 
to  ancient  Egypt." 

The  religiosity  of  the  Egyptian  is  seen  in 
the  pious  phrases  with  which  his  every-day 
speech  is  punctuated.  Before  eating,  drinking, 
taking  medicine,  writing  a  letter,  he  will  ex- 
claim, "  In  the  name  of  God,  the  Compassion- 
ate, the  Merciful ;"  and,  after  he  is  through, 
"Praise  be  to  God."     You  ask  him  if  he  will 


The  People  53 

do  a  certain  thing  and  his  affirmative  reply  is, 
"  If  God  is  willing."  "  O  God  "  is  the  literal 
meaning  of  the  phrase  equivalent  to  "  Come, 
let  us  go."  Even  a  deceitful  or  licentious  con- 
versation will  be  interspersed  with  religious 
phrases.  How  difficult  it  is  to  make  clear  the 
true  significance  of  the  Third  Commandment, 
may  easily  be  imagined. 

In  a  concluding  section  of  this  chapter  on  the    western 

,  ,  T-,  .  Influencea, 

people  01  Egypt,  as  a  corrective  to  many  state- 
ments made  concerning  the  life  which  is 
typically  Egyptian,  emphatic  reference  needs  to 
be  made  to  those  Western  influences  which  have 
brought  about  within  the  last  two  decades  such 
remarkable  modifications  and  transformations 
of  industrial,  intellectual,  social,  political,  and 
even  religious  conditions  in  the  Nile  Valley.  We 
are  especially  concerned  here  with  changes 
along  intellectual  and  social  lines. 

During  the  past  twenty-five  years,  a  remark- 
able revival  of  learning  has  taken  place  in 
Egypt.  Mission  schools  and  colleges  undoubt- 
edly prepared  the  way  for  this  educational 
movement  by  the  steady  stream  of  influence 
which  they  have  been  sending  all  these  years 
into  the  life  of  the  nation  through  the  thousands 
(now  over  15,000  annually)  of  their  pupils, 
who  are  quickened  by  Western  ideas  of  life  and 
thought.     Lord  Cromer,  His  British  Majesty's 


54    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Minister  in  Egypt,  says :  "  I  have  no  hesita- 
tion in  testifying  as  to  the  result  of  more  than 
twenty-three  years'  experience,  that  the  Ameri- 
can Mission  schools,  and  notably  the  College  at 
Assiut,  have  done  much  good  to  forward  the 
cause  of  education  and  civilization  in  Egypt." 

The  closer  contact  of  Egypt  with  the  Western 
world  and  the  occupation  of  Egypt  by  the  Brit- 
ish, have  also  given  a  great  impetus  to  educa- 
tion. This  is  especially  manifest  in  the  last 
decade  and  a  half.  In  government  schools 
alone,  the  attendance  has  risen  from  9,231  in 
1890  to  18,712  in  1905 ;  while  the  amount  ex- 
pended by  the  Government  for  education  has 
advanced  from  $520,000  to  $1,175,000. 

This  educational  movement  contrasts  sharply 
in  its  ideals  and  methods  with  the  Moslem  sys- 
tem of  education  previously  described,  and  the 
intellectual  redemption  of  Egypt  is  to  be  looked 
for  in  the  direction  of  this  Western  movement 
whose  volume  and  momentum  are  increasing 
every  year.  Government  education,  however, 
while  thoroughly  scientific,  contrasts  with  that 
of  mission  schools  by  its  failure  to  impart  that 
moral  training  and  that  development  of  upright 
character  so  essential  to  a  strong  personality. 

Socially,  too,  Egypt  has  undergone  great 
changes  through  its  contact  with  Western  civil- 
ization.    Steadily,  though  slowly,  the  seclusion 


The  People  55 

of  women  is  being  broken  down.  The  affecta- 
tion of  Western  manners  and  the  assumption  of 
\Yestern  costumes,  has  already  gone  far  in  the 
larger  cities  of  Cairo  and  Alexandria,  and  is 
banishing  farther  and  farther  the  typically 
Egyptian  life.  With  the  imitation  of  the  West 
in  matters  of  social  custom  has  come,  alas, 
imitation  of  the  W^est  in  vices,  too.  Intemper- 
ance is  growing  at  an  alarming  pace  and  relig- 
ious indifference  is  becoming  a  fad. 

This  period  of  reconstruction  and  of  trans-  a  supreme 
formation  constitutes  a  supreme  opportunity  tuuity. 
for  the  presentation  of  Christian  truth  and  life. 
It  is  a  Divine  Providence  which  is  causing 
adamantine  walls  of  social  custom  to  crumble 
by  the  unavoidable  contact  of  Egyptian  life 
with  the  Western  world.  It  is  the  opportunity 
and  duty  of  the  Church  to  carry  the  assault 
through  these  widening  breaches  and  take 
possession  of  Egyptian  life  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  her  Lord. 


CHAPTEK    III 


HISTOEY 


^"^"of'the  "^"^  ^^^^  ^^  '^SyV^  is  literally  the  creation  of 
Past,  the  Nile.  Repeated  inimdations  have  con- 
tributed their  fertile  deposits  in  strata  of  vary- 
ing depths  and  extents,  until  the  Nile  Valley 
of  to-day  stands  forth  as  a  garden  in  the  midst 
of  the  desert.  But  not  all  these  Nile  floods  are 
equally  traceable  in  any  geological  survey. 
Some  have  been  so  limited  ill  their  reach  and 
richness,  that  even  the  lowlands  have  been  only 
slightly  affected  by  them,  while  the  highlands 
have  not  been  influenced  in  the  least.  Other 
floods  have  come  with  such  steady,  gradual  and 
abiding  power,  that  the  life  of  the  whole  coun- 
try has  been  permanently  enriched  and  quick- 
ened. Still  again,  other  inundations  have  come 
with  such  sudden  and  devastating  floods,  that 
only  ruin  has  been  wrought,  and  oven  the  rich 
deposits  of  former  inundations  have  been  swept 
into  the  ocean  and  lost  forever. 

In  a  similar  way,  the  political  experiences 
through  which  Egypt  has  passed  throughout  the 
centuries  of  her  history,  have  left  their  impress 
upon  the  country,  but  in  greatly  varying  de- 
grees. We  see  in  Egyptian  history  a  long  line 
56 


History  57 

of  Egyptian  rulers,  then  the  Egyptian  gives 
way  to  the  Assyrian,  the  Assyrian  to  the  Per- 
sian, the  Persian  to  the  Greek,  the  Greek  to  the 
Koman,  the  Roman  to  the  Arab,  the  Arab  to 
the  Turk,  the  Turk  to  the  French,  the  French 
to  the  Albanian,  and  the  Albanian  to  the  Brit- 
ish. Gaged  by  their  duration  and  by  their  tem- 
porary influence,  a  large  place  would  need  to  be 
given  in  any  historical  survey  to  some  of  these 
political  periods.  When  we  remember,  hoAV- 
ever,  the  object  of  our  present  study,  we  can 
well  afford  to  pass,  with  only  the  briefest  men- 
tion, long  and  otherwise  important  periods  of 
Egyptian  history.  We  have  to  do  here  with 
Modern  Egypt,  especially  in  relation  to  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  For  this  reason,  the  Ancient 
Egyptian  Empires,  the  Persian  invasion,  and 
Greek  and  Roman  domination  are  of  little  inter- 
est to  us,  while  later  invasions,  especially  those  of 
Moslem  origin,  which  have  swept  through  Egypt, 
with  their  devastating  floods,  obliterating,  for 
the  most  part,  all  traces  of  former  political 
movements,  are  of  vital  interest,  and  give  us, 
as  the  resultant  of  their  successive  influences, 
the  Egypt  of  to-day. 

In  outlining  the  political  experiences  of 
Egypt,  we  can  follow  political  divisions  given  by 
Prof.  G.  Steindorff  in  Baedeker's  Egyyt, 


58    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

The  Prehistoric  Period 

Mythology.  Egyptian  mythology,  so  far,  has  not  been 
found  to  contain  undisputed  references  to  the 
Deluge,  neither  does  it  offer  any  cosmogony  or 
account  of  the  early  conditions  of  the  race, 
which  can  be  regarded  as  parallel  to  the  Mosaic 
narrative.  Tradition  fills  up  this  period  with 
dynasties  of  gods  and  demi-gods,  and  it  is 
simply  impossible  to  conjecture  the  character 
and  duration  of  this  prehistoric  age.  Dis- 
coveries of  stone  implements  have  been  made 
the  basis  of  a  stone  age  theory,  but  such  stone 
implements  are  also  found  in  use  in  historic 
periods  through  contact  by  war  with  adjoining 
but  undeveloped  races. 

Earliest  Historical  Period  (Before  2500  B.C.) 
*>ifflcuityin       jjj    venturine;    upon    dates    for    periods    of 

Dating.  .  _  ?         ^  .  .       .  '- 

Ancient  Egyptian  history,  it  is  necessary  to 
emphasize  the  fact  that  these  dates  are  only  ap- 
proximate; authorities  differ  as  widely  as  by 
3,000  years  in  the  date  of  the  first  dynasty. 
The  reason  for  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
Egyptian  inscriptions  seldom  have  an  Era  from 
which  they  date.  Dates,  when  given,  are  by  the 
year  of  the  reigning  sovereign.  No  complete 
and  reliable  list  of  these  sovereigns  and  of  the 
duration  of  their  reigns  being  available,  it  is 


History  59 

impossible  to  determine  accurately  the  length 
of  the  various  dynasties  and  historical  periods. 
It  is  certain  that  in  many  instances,  there  were 
overlappinga  in  the  durations  of  the  dynasties, 
while  added  difficulty  is  experienced  from  the 
fact  that  for  Dynasties  VII-X,  and  XIII-XVII, 
there  are  no,  or  almost  no,  monuments.  Mane- 
tho's  list  of  kings,  coming  down  to  us  from  the 
third  century  B.C.,  serves  as  a  basis  for  work- 
ing out  a  chronology. 

The  first  of  these  kings  of  Egypt  is  Menes. 
Gaining  the  sovereignty  of  Egypt,  he  founded 
Memphis  as  his  capital.  He  was  a  maker  of 
laws,  and  his  long  reign  of  62  years  enabled  him 
to  unify  the  government  of  the  country. 

In  the  next  dynasty,  we  find  the  worship  of 
bulls  introduced,  and  a  number  of  cities  are 
founded.  This  involved  the  development  of  the 
art  of  building,  to  which  the  Step  Pyramid  at 
Sakkara  bears  witness  to-day. 

The   Ancient  Empire    (2500-2200   B.C.) 

This  period  is  one  of  powerful  monarchs.  We  ''*»«  Great 
here  meet  with  such  names  as  Cheops  (Khofu), 
the  builder  of  the  Great  Pyramid,  and  Onnos 
(Unis),  in  whose  pyramid  at  Sakkara  was 
found  the  oldest  religious  Egyptian  text  known 
(setting  forth  the  life  beyond  the  tomb),  and 


60    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Phiops  (Pepi)  whose  reign  attained  such  re- 
markable length.  The  inscriptions  of  this 
period  indicate  great  wealth,  and  a  development 
of  art  and  of  the  industries,  which  practically 
brought  Egypt  to  the  zenith  of  its  civilization. 
For  proof  of  this  fact,  the  Great  Pyramid  may 
well  suffice.  Here  is  a  massive  structure,  cover- 
ing some  thirteen  acres  of  ground  (almost  three 
times  the  size  of  Madison  Square  Garden  in 
'New  York  City),  rising  to  a  height  of  over  450 
feet,  built  of  solid  masonry,  aggregating  over 
3,000,000  cubic  yards.  The  material  was 
brought  for  the  most  part  from  limestone  quar- 
ries across  the  river,  while  the  granite  slabs, 
lining  passage-ways  and  chambers,  were  brought 
from  the  granite  quarries  of  Assuan,  587  miles 
away.  The  jointing  and  polishing  of  the  fine- 
grained limestone  slabs  of  the  interior  is  such 
that  a  needle  could  not  be  inserted  in  the  joints 
of  these  stones.  The  granite  blocks  attain  a 
length  of  eighteen  and  a  half  feet.  What  labor 
must  the  quarrying  of  all  this  stone  have  in- 
volved !  Wliat  art  in  arriving  at  so  perfect  a 
polish !  What  unknown  mechanical  devices 
must  have  transported  and  then  elevated  such 
immense  blocks  of  stone !  What  geometrical 
knowledge  must  have  planned  so  accurately  the 
sides,  the  passage-ways,  the  chambers  of  this 
Pyramid !     W^hat  resources  of  wealth  and  of 


History  61 

workers  must  have  been  available  for  the  erec- 
tion of  this  monument,  which  has  defied  four 
milleniums  of  decay,  and  still  stands,  in  our 
boastful  age,  as  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
wonders ! 


The  Middle  Empire  (2200-1700  B.C.) 

The  Middle  Empire  marks  a  recovery  from 
the  decline  which  set  in  at  the  close  of  the 
Ancient  Empire.  Egypt  reached  her  highest 
material  prosperity.  Public  works  followed 
lines  of  usefulness  rather  than  of  mere  display. 
Amenemhat  was  specially  interested  in  regulat- 
ing the  annual  inundation  of  the  Nile,  and  is 
said  to  have  dug  the  great  canal  "  Bahr  Yusuf," 
leading  the  surplus  waters  of  the  Nile  flood  to 
a  great  depression,  Lake  Moeris,  now  the  Dis- 
trict of  the  Fayum,  whence  they  were  drained 
off  again  when  the  fields  of  Egypt  required 
more  water. 

In  this  period  also  great  buildings  were 
erected,  ruins  of  which  are  to  be  found  near 
almost  every  large  town  of  Egypt. 

Eyl-sos  Period    (1700-1575   B.C.) 

This  period  is  of  special  interest  to  Bible 
students,    as   it   is   supposed   that   during   this 


Israel  in 
Egypt. 


62    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

period  Abraham  visited  Egypt  and  Joseph  was 
prime  minister.  The  j^eriod  receives  its  name 
from  the  fact,  that  the  Hyksos  race,  Semites  or 
Hittites,  invaded  Egypt  from  the  East.  This 
Shepherd  race  set  up  one  of  their  number  at 
Memphis  as  king,  at  least  of  Lower  Egypt. 
Their  foreign  extraction,  their  pastoral  occupa- 
tion, and  their  foreign  religion  would  easily  ac- 
count both  for  their  kindly  consideration  of 
Israel  and  the  antipathy  of  the  Egyptians  to- 
ward them  (Gen.  45:33,34).  But  few 
monimients  have  been  preserved  from  this 
period,  and  even  these  are  almost  valueless  his- 
torically. 

The  New  Empire  (1600-1100  B.C.) 

Theban  princes  who  ruled  in  Upper  Egypt 
as  vassals  of  the  Hyksos  kings,  succeeded  in 
overthrowing  the  power  which  the  foreign  in- 
vaders had  held  for  more  than  half  a  millenium, 
and  set  upon  the  throne  once  again  a  line  of 
native  rulers.  Egypt  became  a  great  military 
power  in  this  period.  The  horse  was  intro- 
duced for  the  first  time.  The  development  of 
the  country  itself,  together  with  the  access  of 
tribute  paid  by  foreign  states,  combined  to 
make  Egypt  enormously  wealthy.     Art  revived. 


History  63 

We  also  find,  for  the  first  time,  royal  tombs  cut 
in  the  rock. 

In  this  period  we  come  across  many  famous 
names:  Thutmosis  I.,  whose  military  expedi- 
tions were  carried  as  far  as  the  Euphrates: 
Queen  Hatasu,  builder  of  the  wonderful  temple 
of  Der  el-Bahri :  Thutmosis  III.,  whose  long  and 
pacific  reign  enabled  him  to  build  temples  in 
Nubia,  Luxor  and  Medinet  Habu,  while  the 
two  magnificent  Colossi  of  Memnon  (one  of 
them  the  celebrated  Vocal  Statue)  are  also  to  be 
credited  to  him:  Amenophis  IV.,  who  under- 
took to  replace  the  old  religion  by  the  worship 
of  the  sun,  removing  the  statues  and  names  of 
the  ancient  deities:  Sethos  I.,  a  great  builder, 
credited  with  building  the  great  hall  of  columns 
at  Karnak,  and  withal  a  warrior,  repelling  at- 
tacks of  Libyans,  Syrians  and  Hittites:  Ram- 
eses  II.,  the  most  celebrated  of  all  Egyptian 
kings ;  a  great  military  character,  leading  an 
expedition  against  the  Hittites  and  saving  the 
day  once  by  his  owti  personal  prowess  in  battle; 
a  wonderful  statesman,  too,  executing  an  offen- 
sive and  defensive  treaty  with  the  Hittite  king- 
dom, with  articles  of  extradition  remarkable  for 
their  humanity,  and  other  articles  for  the  pro- 
tection of  commerce;  an  indefatigable  builder, 
since  almost  one-half  of  all  the  extant  temples 


64     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

date  from  his  reign;  finally,  a  leading  Biblical 
character,  if  the  general  identification  of  him 
with  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Oppression  be  ac- 
cepted: and  Amenepthes  (Merenptah),  whose 
waning  power  furnishes  the  opportunity,  as  the 
probable  date  of  his  reign  furnishes  the  period, 
for  the  Exodus  of  the  Children  of  Israel  from 
Egypt.  Whole  volumes  might  well  be  written 
about  each  of  these  kings  if  our  aim  were 
purely  historical,  but  when  we  inquire  for  the 
influences  which  survive  in  the  Egypt  of  to-day 
from  these  remote  political  reigns,  we  find  our 
justification  for  passing  centuries  of  history  by 
with  only  a  brief  mention. 


Period  of  Foreign  Domination  (1100-663  B.C.) 

During  this  period,  the  Empire  falls  to 
pieces,  her  foreign  dependencies  are  lost, 
Libyan  rulers  extend  their  power  from  Southern 
Egypt  northward,  then  an  Assyrian  invasion 
brings  Egypt  into  subjection  to  Assyrian  kings. 
We  simply  note  in  passing  that  the  Bible  names 
'Shishak  (I.  Kings  14:  25,  26;  11.  Chron.  12: 
2-9),  So  (II.  Kings  17:4),Tirhakah  (II.  Kings 
19:9),  are  to  be  identified  with  Egyptian 
rulers  of  this  period. 


History  65 

Tie  Late  Egyptian  Period  (663-332  B.C.) 

A  new  period  of  prosperity  came  to  Egypt.  Persiaa 
The  Assyrian  yoke  was  shaken  off.  Trade  and  "  "**  **"* 
art  revived.  Egypt  was  again  under  a  native 
Egyptian  ruler.  Nekho  and  Apries,  rulers  of 
this  period,  are  to  be  identified  with  "  the  king 
of  Egypt  "  of  II.  Kings  24 :  7  and  Hophra  of 
Jer.  44 :  30.  In  525  B.C.,  Cambyses  invaded 
Egypt,  and  made  of  it  a  Persian  province. 
While  this  resulted  in  200  years  of  Persian 
domination,  Persian  influence  was  almost 
purely  political,  and  Egypt  was  permitted  to 
follow  the  ancient  ways  in  industrial,  social  and 
religious  matters,  so  that  of  this  Persian  dom- 
ination practically  nothing  remains  to-day. 
Indeed,  toward  the  close  of  the  period,  the 
Persian  yoke  was  completely  thrown  off,  and, 
for  a  few  years,  Egypt  was  again  ruled  by  na- 
tive rulers.  Then,  with  reassertion  of  the  Per- 
sian power,  came  a  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy 
of  Ezekiel  30 :  13,  which  has  continued  to  this 
day,  "  There  shall  be  no  more  a  prince  from 
the  land  of  Egypt." 

Alexander  the  Great  and  the  Ptolemaic  Period 
(332-30  B.C.) 

In   332  B.C.,    Alexander   the   Great    added 


66    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Egypt  to  his  world-wide  empire,  and  founded 
the  city  of  Alexandria.  It  may  seem  as  if  little 
trace  of  this  Greek  invasion  and  the  period 
which  succeeded  it  remains  in  the  Egypt  of  to- 
da}^,  unless  it  be  in  the  mere  existence  of  this  city 
of  Alexandria.  We  know,  however,  that  the 
founding  of  Alexandria  proved  to  be,  both  to 
Egypt  and  to  the  world,  a  far  more  than  ordin- 
ary event.  Alexandria  became  a  world  center 
for  commerce  and  thought.  The  trade  of  the 
East  and  of  the  "West  met  here,  and  "a  large 
part  of  the  thoughts  which  dominate  the  world's 
views  in  philosophy,  religion  and  science,  saw 
the  light  in  Alexandria." 

Upon  the  partition  of  the  empire  of  Alex- 
ander, Egypt  fell  to  Ptolemy,  one  of  Alex- 
ander's ablest  generals.  He  built  the  Pharos, 
one  of  the  world's  seven  wonders,  '^  a  many- 
storied  tower  of  white  stone  and  marvelous  con- 
struction," said  to  have  been  590  feet  high,  and 
erected,  as  the  inscription  declared,  "  for  the 
salvation  of  navigators."  jMore  important  still, 
he  founded  the  Museum,  a  college  of  professors, 
which  drew  scholars  from  the  Avhole  world  and 
became  the  great  Eastern  university.  To  this 
was  attached  a  great  library.  Tliis  library  was 
enlarged  by  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  under  whom 
also  the  important  Septuagint  translation  of  the 
Hebrew  Old  Testament  into  Greek  was  made. 


History  67 

Steadily  the  fame  of  Alexandria  grew,  and 
with  good  reason.  Its  site  was  well  chosen ;  its 
climate  was  salubrious ;  its  buildings  were  beau- 
tiful. Here,  it  is  said,  Alexander  the  Great 
was  buried  in  his  golden  casket.  Here,  Euclid 
worked  out  his  '*  Elements  of  Geometry." 
Here,  Archimedes  investigated  the  most  ab- 
struse problems  in  geometry  and  mechanics. 
Here,  the  brush  was  wielded  by  one  who 
carried  the  art  of  painting  to  such  perfection 
that  men  coined  the  phrase,  "  the  art  of  Apel- 
les,"  to  describe  the  faultless.  Here,  Eratos- 
thenes achieved,  two  centuries  before  Christ, 
his  greatest  astronomical  computation  in  de- 
termining from  sun  shadows  the  approximate 
circumference  of  the  earth.  "We  may  remark 
that  all  these  names  are  Greek,  not  Egyptian; 
that  Egyptian  life  is  known  to  have  moved,  for 
the  most  part,  serenely  and  steadily  along  the 
ancient  lines  of  life  and  thought,  l^evertheless, 
this  center  of  learning  at  Egypt's  very  doors, 
must  have  received  something  from,  and  im- 
parted something  to,  the  life  of  the  Land  of  the 
Pharaohs. 

Brilliant  as  were  the  first  hundred  years  of 
this  period,  the  rulers  "  of  the  last  two  hundred 
years  were,  with  few  exceptions,  a  succession  of 
monsters,  such  as  even  Rome  in  her  worst  days 
could    scarcely    equal."      The    stot-y    of    Cleo- 


Fame  of 
Alexandria. 


68    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

patra,  the  Beautiful,  but  also  the  Dissolute, 
practically  brings  this  period  of  Greek  influence 
to  an  end  and  marks  the  beginning  of  the 
Koman  period. 


The  Roman  Period   (B.C.   30-395  A.D.) 

From  a  political  point  of  view,  this  period  is 
quite  unimportant.  Octavianus  having  de- 
■•  f eated  Antony,  Egypt  became  a  Roman  prov- 
ince, subject  to  the  Emperor,  but  usually 
governed  by  his  prefects  or  viceroys.  During 
the  four  hundred  years  of  this  period,  the  his- 
tory of  EgyjDt  is  a  record  of  constant  political 
changes.  Administrations  followed  each  other, 
each  having  but  little  regard  for  the  interests 
of  the  people  of  Egypt,  but  rather  aiming  to 
extract  from  the  country  as  much  revenue  as 
possible  while  the  opportunity  lasted.  Alex- 
andria with  its  foreign  population,  made  up  of 
excitable  Greeks  rather  than  of  long-suffering 
Egyptians,  was  the  scene  of  many  a  riot  and  of 
considerable  bloodshed.  The  country  at  large, 
however,  apart  from  the  varying  pressure  of 
taxation,  found  little  difference  between  one  ad- 
ministration and  another. 
Religious  j£  ^j^g  period  is  unimportant  politically,  re- 

ligiously it  is  perhaps  the  most  important,  for 
during  this  period  Christianity  was  introduced 


History  69 

into  Egypt.  The  story  of  its  rapid  spread,  its 
persecutions,  its  faithful  endurance,  and  its 
final  triumph  as  the  dominant  religion  of  Egypr, 
will  appear  in  a  succeeding  chapter  on 
Religions. 


The  Byzantines  (395-638  A.D.) 

With  the  partition  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
Eg;^73t  became  a  part  of  the  Eastern  or  Byzan- 
tine kingdom.  This  resulted  in  no  great  change 
in  Egypt's  political  condition.  Her  rulers  were 
merely  appointed  from  Constantinople  instead 
of  from  Rome. 

During  this  period,  however,  there  were  re- 
ligious developments,  to  be  described  in  the  next 
chapter,  which  swung  tlie  jSTational  Church  of 
Egypt,  to  which  the  bulk  of  the  population  now 
belonged,  out  of  the  orthodox  current  and  made 
it  a  schismatic  church.  This  reacted  upon  the 
political  situation.  The  political  rulers  of  the 
country  were  Byzantine,  and  therefore  identified 
with  the  Imperial  Church.  Every  feeling  of 
resentment  entertained  by  the  Egj^ptian  nation 
against  the  Byzantine  government  because  of 
political  injustice,  was  deepened  by  the  relig- 
ious intolerance  existing  between  the  National 
or  Coptic  Churcli  and  the  Imperial  or  Byzan- 


70      Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

tine  Church.     This  disaffection  made  possible 
the  easy  triumph  of  the  Arab  invader. 


The  Middle  Ages   (640-1517   A.D.) 

We  now  come  to  that  period  in  the  history  of 
Egypt  which  more  than  any  other  is  responsi- 
ble for  the  conditions  which  exist  to-day  in  the 
Nile  Valley.  A  new  race,  a  new  religion,  and 
a  new  civilization  were  projected  upon  the 
country. 

In  640  A.D.,  Amr  Ibn  el-'Asi,  the  aggressive 
general  of  the  Caliph  'Omar,  entered  Egypt  at 
the  head  of  an  army  of  8,000  men.  A  brief 
campaign  followed,  in  which  the  Byzantine 
power  was  overthrown. 

"  Egypt  looked  on  passively  while  her  fate 
was  thus  decided  by  a  combat  between  the 
armies  of  two  alien  nations  in  her  midst.  Side 
with  the  Imperial  troops  they  would  not;  yet 
their  consciences  forbade  the  Egyptians  openly 
to  espouse  the  cause  of  the  infidels.  They  left 
the  issue,  as  their  o\vn  historian  implies,  to  the 
judgment  of  God."  * 
The  Price  Twclvc  and  a  half  centuries  of  Moslem 
pa  ly.  (^QjQijjation,  persecutions  in  which  thousands 
have  perished,  oppression  which  has  sapped  the 
strength  and  wealth  of  the  nation,  the  loss  of 

*  E.  L.  Butcher, "  The  Story  of  the  Church  in  Egypt,"  vol.  I.,  362. 


History  71 

her  ancient  language,  the  pathetic  reduction  and 
degradation  of  her  once  famous  National 
Christian  Church,  the  ruthless  upheaval  of  her 
social  constitution,  and  the  imposition  upon  her 
of  a  Saracenic  civilization, — this  is  the  price 
which  Egypt  has  been  compelled  to  pay  for  her 
apathy  in  640  A.D. 

When  'Amr  entered  Egypt  a  treaty  was  ex- 
ecuted. Its  opening  sentence  ran  thus,  "  In  the 
name  of  God,  the  Compassionate,  the  Merciful, 
this  is  the  amnesty  which  'Amr  Ibn  el-'Asi 
granted  the  people  of  Misr  (Egypt),  as  to 
themselves,  their  religion,  their  goods,  their 
churches  and  crosses,  their  Jands  and  waters; 
nothing  of  these  shall  be  meddled  with  or 
minished."  To  this  treaty,  'Amr's  successors 
paid  little  heed.  The  next  governor,  'x\bdallah, 
succeeded  in  raising  a  revenue  of  14,000,000 
dinars  from  Egypt  as  against  'Amr's  12,000,- 
000.  "  The  camel  yields  more  milk  now,"  ob- 
served the  Caliph  'Othman,  at  Medina.  "  Yes," 
was  'Amr's  reply,  "  but  to  the  hurt  of  her 
young." 

The  general  period  of  Egyptian  history  with 
which  we  are  dealing,  is  subdivided  into  shorter 
periods  named  after  the  families  that  ruled 
^gypt  either  in  person  or  through  governors 
of  their  appointment. 

A  J-  •    1  c        •  1  •         1        Omavyad 

Alter  eighteen  years  of  minor  changes  m  the  caiipbs, 


72     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

caliphate,  the  Omayyad  Caliphs  come  into 
settled  possession  of  Egypt  for  almost  a 
hundred  years.  No  sweeping  changes  in  the 
administration  of  the  government  are  made. 
The  system  introduced  by  the  Romans  meets 
every  need,  and,  while  officials  and  official  titles 
change,  the  administration  remains  much  the 
same  as  it  has  been.  The  governor  stands  at 
the  head.  He  is  appointed  by  the  Caliph  and 
usually  his  term  of  office  is  short.  We  see  al- 
most a  hundred  governors  in  office  in  a  brief 
period  of  228  years.  Justice  and  tyranny  al- 
ternate according  to  the  character  of  the  gov- 
ernor and  his  staff  of  officials.  The  new 
capital  of  Egypt  is  Fostat,  foimded  by  'x\mr,  in 
640  A.D.,  just  north  of  modern  Cairo.  Under 
the  Omayyad  Caliphs  all  the  governors  are 
Arabs. 
Abbasid       Pj.qjj^  Y50  to  868,  we  have  to  do  with  the 

Caliphs.      -  7  .  . 

Aohasid  Caliphs.  Moslem  intolerance  now  be- 
gins to  assert  itself.  A  steady  persecution  of 
the  Coptic  Christians  developed — either  by  open 
and  direct  measures,  as  in  831,  when  many  were 
slain  or  sold  into  captivity;  or,  by  indirect 
measures  of  special  taxation  and  oppressive, 
restrictions,  as  in  850,  when  the  Christians  were 
ordered  "  to  wear  honey-colored  clothes,  with 
distinguishing  patches,  use  wooden  stirrups  and 
set  up  wooden  images  of  a  devil  or  an  ape  or 


History  73 

dog  over  their  doors;  the  girdle,  the  symbol  of 
femininity,  was  forbidden  to  women,  and 
ordered  to  be  worn  by  men ;  crosses  were  not  to 
be  shown,  nor  processional  lights  carried  in  the 
streets,  and  their  graves  were  to  be  indistin- 
guishable from  the  earth  around."  As  a  result 
of  such  measures,  many  gave  up  their  faith  and 
embraced  Mohammedanism.  The  Copts,  who 
in  725  still  numbered  5,000,000,  must  have 
numbered  less  than  1,000,000  in  1517. 

Since  almost  every  governor  came  to  Egypt 
with  an  Arab  army  of  from  6,000  to  20,000 
men,  the  Moslem  population  increased  steadily. 
These  settled,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  towns 
of  Lower  Egypt  and  many  intermarried  with 
Coptic  women.  Thus  the  religious  complexion 
of  the  country  changed  radically,  and  the  land 
which  had  once  been,  nominally  at  least,  a 
Christian  land,  became  more  and  more  entirely 
a  Moslem  land. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  Abbassid  Dynasty, 
Turkish  governors  were  appointed  to  Egypt  and 
since  then  hardly  any  Arabs  have  ruled  in 
Egypt. 

From    868    to    905,    we    deal    with    a    new  House  ot 

^  Tulun. 

dynasty,  that  of  the  House  of  Tiduti.  Tulun 
was  a  mameluke,  a  Turkish  slave,  who  rose  to 
high  rank  and  favor  at  the  caliphate  court  at 
Baghdad.    His  son,  xYhmad  Ibn-Tulun,  enjoyed 


74     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

every  advantage  for  literary  and  military  train- 
ing, and  a  gifted  mind  enabled  him  to  make  the 
most  of  these  advantages.  At  last  we  find  him 
ruling  Egypt  with  a  power  which  practically 
makes  him  independent  of  the  Caliph.  His 
mosque  at  Cairo  gives  the  earliest  instance  of 
the  use  of  pointed  arches  in  building.  The 
wealth  he  gathered  and  spent,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  "  that  he  sent  750,000  dinars  *  as 
tribute  to  the  Caliph  and  in  four  years  2,200,- 
000 ;  that  some  of  his  buildings  were  said  to 
have  cost  nearly  a  half  a  million ;  that  he  spent 
1,000  dinars  a  day  on  his  table,  kept  open  house 
and  maintained  a  great  army."  He  adminis- 
tered the  government  so  well,  however,  that 
with  all  this  outlay  of  expense,  when  he  died, 
he  left  ten  million  dinars  in  his  treasury,  from 
seven  to  ten  thousand  mounted  mamelukes, 
twenty-four  slaves  of  the  body  guard,  a  stud  of 
three  hundred  horses,  thousands  of  mules,  asses, 
and  camels,  and  a  hundred  ships  of  war.  He 
was  at  least  the  first  Moslem,  since  the  Arab 
conquest,  Avho  revived  the  power  of  Egypt  and 
beautified  her  capital."  t  He  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  whose  expenditures  were  even  more 
extravagant. 

An  unsettled   political   period   followed   the 

*  A  dinar  is  valued  at  $2.50. 
t"  History  of  Egyyt,"  by  St.  Lane-Poole,  71, 


History  75 

Tuhniid  Dynasty,  and  again  a  man  who  liaJ 
been  a  slave,  although  originally  of  royal  de- 
scent, came  into  prominence.  Ikhshid  became 
ruler  of  Egypt  in  935,  and  after  a  brilliant 
military  career  died  in  946.  His  Abyssinian 
slave,  Kafur  (Camphor),  who  acted  as  regent 
after  his  master's  death  and  thus  ruled  Egypt 
for  22  years,  is  an  illustration  of  a  number  of 
facts:  that  in  the  Orient  the  color  line  is 
ignored;  that  there  like^vise  slave  origin  is  no 
disgrace;  and  that,  in  this  period,  wealth 
abounded  in  Egypt.  Kafur's  table  rivaled 
Solomon's  (cf.  I  Kings  4:  22,  23),  for  his  daily 
provision  consisted  of  100  sheep,  100  lambs, 
250  geese,  500  fowls,  1,000  pigeons  and  other 
birds,  and  100  jars  of  sweets. 

TJie  Fatimites  ruled  Egypt  from  969  to  1171. 
Mo'izz  was  the  first  ruler  of  ^this  dynasty, 
but  it  was  the  military  genius  of  his  gen- 
eral, Gawhar,  that  won  for  him  the  kingdom  of 
Egypt.  He  it  was,  also,  who  founded  Cairo  in 
969,  building  for  his  master  upon  this  site  a 
palace  of  extravagant  proportions  and  luxury, 
of  which  Arabic  historians  speak  with  awe.  He 
it  was,  also,  who  built,  in  970,  the  Azhar,  which 
has  since  become, the  world's  most  famous  Mos- 
lem university.  The  record  of  this  period 
shows  wonderful  material  prosperity  and  great 
display.      Indeed,   the   fables   of   "  The   Arab- 


Fatimite 
Caliphs. 


76    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

ian  jSTights ''  seem  only  to  reflect  the  ex- 
travagance of  wealth  and  of  display,  which  his- 
tory soberly  narrates  in  connection  with  one 
ruler  and  another. 

To  realize  the  degradation  and  sufferings  of 
Egypt,  it  is  necessary  to  study  history  at  greater 
length  and  trace  the  wealth  of  Egypt's  rulers 
back  to  their  oppression  of  Egypt's  people.     If 
there  were,  at  times,  wise  and  sagacious  rulers, 
there  were  far  more  of  quite  another  sort.     It 
would    require   whole   pages,    for   example,    to 
describe  the  insane  edicts   and   actions  of  the 
young  Caliph  Hakim,  who  turned  night  into 
day,   ordering  the  shops  to  be   open   and  the 
houses    illuminated,    then    sought    to    restrain 
Egyptian  womanhood  from  too  much  visiting 
by  forbidding  shoemakers  to  make  out-door  shoes 
for  women.     Ife  compelled  the  Christians  and 
Jews  to  dress  in  black,  and  the  former  to  wear 
crosses  and  the  latter  bells  whenever  they  went 
to  the  public  baths.     He  ordered  the  demolition 
of  Christian  churches.     He  fancied  himself  the 
incarnation  of  the  Godhead  and  compelled  all 
to  worship  his  name.    His  successor,  Zahir,  was 
not  insane,  but  had  savage  cruelty.     "  He  once 
invited  all  the  young  girls  of  the  palace  to  a 
merry  making.      They  came  in  their  holiday 
best  and  were  led  into  a  mosque  to  await  the 
festivities.      The   doors  were  then  closed   and 


History  77 

bricked  up, and  2,660  girls  perished  from  starva- 
tion." Other  such  incidents  might  be  related  to 
show  to  what  depths  the  government  of  Egypt 
sank. 

It  is  refreshing  to  turn  to  the  Ayyuhid  rulers  ^^1"^^^^ 
(1171-1250),  first  and  greatest  of  whom  is 
Saladin.  We  cannot  help  admiring  this  devoted 
spirit,  who  had  "  one  great  aim,"  even  though 
that  aim  was  to  create  a  united  Saracen  empire 
strong  enough  to  drive  the  Franks  into  the  sea 
and  accomplish  the  triumph  of  Islam  over  the 
infidels.  Only  eight  of  the  twenty-four  years 
of  his  reign  were  spent  at  Cairo.  The  Citadel 
and  the  old  aqueduct  at  Cairo  witness,  in  part, 
to  his  building  activity.  Before  his  life  ended 
he  had  realized  his  aim.  The  Christians  had 
been  driven  out  of  the  Holy  City  and  the  unity 
of  Islam  had  been  restored.  "  The  popular  con- 
ception of  his  character  has  not  erred.  Mag- 
nanimous, chivalrous,  gentle,  sympathetic,  pure 
in  heart  and  life,  ascetic  and  laborious,  simple 
in  his  habits,  fervently  devout,  and  only  severe 
in  his  zeal  for  the  faith,  he  has  been  rightly  held 
to  be  the  type  and  pattern  of  Saracen 
chivalry." 

We  pass  by  all  mention  of  Saladin's  succes-  Mameluke 
sors  and  the  hapless  experiences  of  the  Cru-  '*"^«"« 
saders  in  Egypt. 


78    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

The  Mameluke  Dynasty  (1240-1517)  brings 
us  to  the  close  of  tins  Mediaeval  Period.     The 
mameluke    sultans    are    distinguished    for    the 
noble  works  of  art  and  engineering  which  lift 
their  period  above  every  other  period  of  Egypt- 
ian history  since  the  Christian  Era.     Had  it 
not  been,  also,  for  the  magnificent  military  prow- 
ess of  such  mamelukes  as  Beybars,  Kalaun  and 
Kasir,  Egypt  might  have  experienced  another 
and  a  more  disastrous  period  of  foreign  domina- 
tion than  that  of  the  Arab,  for  it  was  the  mili- 
tary skill  of  these-men  that  alone  saved  Syria  and 
Egypt  from  a  Mongolian  invasion. 
^Mo"iem       Summing   up   the   results   of   Mohammedan 
Rule,  domination  in  Egypt  during  these  nine  centu- 
ries, we  find  these  results  indeed  far-reaching. 
The   old   Egyptian   language   has   everywhere, 
save  in  the  Coptic  Church  ritual,  given  way  to 
the  Arabic  language.     The  dominant  language 
is  no  longer  Christian,  but  Moslem.     Contact 
with  the  Western  world  and  its  uplifting  in- 
fluences  has    given  way   to    contact   with   the 
Eastern   world    and   its    stagnating   influences. 
Arab  ideas  prevail  everywhere.     The  rulers  of 
the  country  are  invariably  foreigners,  and  are 
moved  solely  by  motives  of  personal  aggrandize- 
ment  or   luxury.        Their   maladministration, 
frequent  political  upheavals,  and  the  drain  of 
almost  constant  military  operations,   impover- 


History  79 

ish  the  land  and  reduce  t\\^  population  terribly. 
Those  material,  intellectual,  social,  and  re- 
ligious conditions,  which  constitute  the  problems 
of  the  modern  missionary  enterprise,  have  prac- 
tically all  been  brought  about.  There  remains 
only  the  task  of  indicating,  in  the  Modern  Period 
of  Egypt's  history,  how  the  present  line  of 
Khedives  came  to  the  throne  and  how  European 
and  British  influence  came  to  figure  so  largely 
in  the  Egyptian  political  situation. 

Modern  Period  (After  1517) 

In  1517,  Egypt  became  a  Turkish  pashalic 
through  the  conquests  of  Osman  Sultan  Selim  I. 
Once  again,  then,  after  nine  centuries,  Egypt 
became  related  to  Constantinople ;  but  it  was  not 
to  the  Christian  Constantinople  of  the  seventh 
century ;  it  was  to  Constantinople,  the  capital  of 
a  Turkish  Mohammedan  Empire. 

For  over  two  centuries,  Turkish  pashas  tried, 
with  varying  success,  to  uphold  in  Egypt  their 
own  authority  and  that  of  their  sovereign,  the 
Sultan,  against  the  mameluke  families,  whose 
leaders  had  formerly  governed  the  country  and 
who  still  held  great  influence  and  power.  While 
these  discordant  elements  fought  each  other  in 
the  government,  they  all  agreed  in  plundering 
the  people.  To  what  was  formerly  needed  to 
7 


80     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

satisfy  the  rapacity  of  local  rulers,  there  was  to 
be  added  what  was  needed  for  the  yearly  tribute 
to  the  Sultan.  At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  we  find  the  population  numbering  two 
and  a  half  millions;  it  was  estimated  at  about 
eight  millions  in  the  seventh  century.  Moslem 
tyranny  and  misrule  may  be  credited  with  the 
difference. 

In  1798,  ISTapoleon  Bonaparte  occupied 
Egypt  and  converted  it,  for  three  years,  into  a 
province  of  France.  In  1801,  the  French  were 
forced,  by  the  British  victory  at  Alexandria,  to 
evacuate  Egypt,  and  once  again  the  country  re- 
verted to  the  Porte. 
Mobammed  Officer  in  the  Turkish  army,  .  which  the 
French  put  to  rout  in  1799,  and  again  officer 
of  an  Albanian  contingent,  that  fought  side  by 
side  with  the  British  in  1801,  when  the  French 
were  driven  out,  was  a  young  Albanian,  Mo- 
hammed 'Ali  by  name.  He  was  born  in  1769, 
the  same  year  as  ISTapoleon  and  Wellington. 
He,  too,  proved  to  be  a  military  genius.  After 
the  French  had  evacuated  Egypt,  he  came  into 
prominence.  Seizing  the  reins  of  government, 
he  practically  compelled  tlie  Sultan,  in  1800, 
to  acknowledge  him  as  Pasha  of  Egypt.  Invit- 
ing the  mameluke  leaders  to  a  public  reception 
at  the  Citadel,  he  massacred  them  to  a  man, 
unless  the  tradition  be  true  that  one  of  them 


History  81 

leaped  the  parapet  on  horseback,  to  the  death  of 
his  horse,  but  to  his  own  escape.  These  were 
extreme  measures,  but  a  discordant  element 
in  the  administration  of  Egyptian  internal  af- 
fairs was  effectively  removed.  Mohammed  'Ali 
next  organized  an  efficient  army,  trained  accord- 
ing to  European  standards.  lie  also  built  up  a 
navy  of  no  mean  proportions.  He  extended 
Egypt  to  the  south  by  conquering  the  Sudan 
and  founding,  in  1823,  the  city  of  Khartum. 
Then  he  broke  with  the  Sultan,  and  started  his 
adopted  son,  Ibrahim,  on  an  expedition  north- 
ward. Syria  was  soon  his.  At  Konyeh  (Icon- 
ium),  he  met  the  entire  Turkish  army  consist- 
ing of  50,000  men,  and  routed  it  with  but  insig- 
nificant losses  to  himself.  He  pushed  on,  until 
he  threatened  Constantinople  itself.  The  Sul- 
tan was  forced  to  confirm  IMohammed  W\i  in 
the  possession  of  S^ria  and  Egypt.  This  was 
in  1833.  Later,  Mohammed  'Ali  again  became 
aggressive.  This  time,  the  European  Powers, 
acting  upon  the  initiative  of  Great  Britain, 
forced  him  back.  He  was  given,  in  1841, 
the  hereditary  possession  of  Egypt,  with  an  ob- 
ligation to  pay  an  annual  tribute  of  a  million 
and  a  half  dollars  to  Turkey.  Eight  years  later 
he  died. 

The  reign  of  Mohammed  ^Ali  advanced  Egypt 
politically.    It  lifted  it  out  of  the  position  of  a 


82     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

mere  paslialic  of  tlie  Turkish  Empire  to  tho 
position  of  an  almost  independent  kingdom. 
It  gave  Egypt  the  Khedevial  line  of  rulers 
which  we  have  to-day,  thus  avoiding  frequent 
and  often  bloody  changes  of  administration.  It 
brought  Egypt  into  touch  with  the  quickening 
influences  of  the  Western  world,  even  though 
Mohammed  'All's  tyrannical  methods  of  govern- 
ment and  the  oppressive  taxation,  to  which  he 
resorted  to  get  funds  for  his  military  campaigns, 
bore  heavily  upon  the  people. 

At  the  death  of  Mohammed  'Ali,  in  1849,  his 
grandson,  'Abbas  I.,  became  viceroy.  •  With  a 
dislike  of  the  West  and  its  ways,  he  adopted  a 
reactionary  policy,  avoided  foreigners,  reduced 
the  army  and  closed  up  many  public  institu- 
tions. Railways  were,  however,  introduced  into 
Egypt  by  him.  In  1854,  he  was  assassinated, 
and  Sa'id  succeeded  him. 

Sa'id  proved  to  be  a  good  ruler.  He  equalized 
taxation,  protected  the  peasantry,  improved  the 
canals,  and  extended  the  railroads.  He  was  per- 
suaded by  De  Lesseps  to  support  the  plans  for 
digging  the  Suez  Canal.  He  was  kindly  dis- 
posed toward  Western  civilization.  In  1863  he 
died,  and  Isma'il  became  viceroy. 

The  reign  of  Isma'il  is  important  because  it 
gives  us  the  early  causes  for  European  interven- 
tion in  Egypt,  and,  ultimately,  for  the  British 


History  83 

occupation  of  Egypt.       Educated    in    France, 
Isma'il  developed  a  great  fondness  for  European 
institutions.    He  sought  to  introduce  into  Egypt 
one    innovation    after    another:    manufactures, 
railways,  bridges,  telegraphs,  palaces,  parks,  a 
new  educational  system,  a  new  system  of  jus- 
tice.     Almost  every  adventurer   could   get  the 
Viceroy's  ear,  and  then  his  endorsement  of  the 
most  reckless  schemes  imaginable.     To  this  love 
for   innovations,   Isma'il   joined   a   wholly   im- 
practical government  administration.     The  re- 
sult was  soon  evident.     "When  Isma'il  came  to 
the  throne  in  1863,  the  debt  of  Egypt  was  only 
a  little  over  three  millions.*     The  annual  rev- 
enue of  the  country  was  amply  sufficient  to  meet 
all  needful   expenditures — yet  by   the   end   of 
1876,  the  debt  had  risen  to  eighty-nine  millions.* 
It  had  been  increased  nearly  thirty-fold  in  thir- 
teen years   ....     And  at  the  same  time  the 
taxation  of  the  land  had  been  increased  by  some- 
thing like  fifty  per  cent.     There  is  nothing  in 
the  financial  history  of  any  country,  from  the 
remotest  ages  to  the  present  time,  equal  to  this 
carnival  of  extravagance  and  oppression."  t 

When  Egypt's  public  debt  had  increased  to 
upwards  of  fifty  million  dollars,  and  the  Vice- 

*  The  English  pound  (£)  is  worth  about  $4.85.    The  Egjrptian, 
(£  E.)  is  worth  $5.00. 

t  Alfred  Milner,  "England  in  Egypt,"  216. 


84     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

roy  was  rapidly  bringing  his  "country  to  the 
place  where  it  would  be  wholly  impossible  to 
meet  the  country's  obligations  to  her  European 
bankers,  the  Powers  interfered,  brought  about 
the  retirement  of  Isnia'il,  and  placed  the  finan- 
cial affairs  of  Egypt  under  an  International 
Debt  Commission,  representing  France,  Ger- 
many, Eussia,  Austria,  Italy,  and  Great  Britain. 
During  the  reign  of  Isma'il,  the  Sultan  made 
the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Egypt  to  be 
direct,  from  father  to  son,  instead  of  descend- 
ing, after  the  Turkish  law,  to  the  oldest  heir; 
the  title  of  Khedive,  instead  of  Wall,  was  con- 
ferred; the  powers  of  the  ruler  of  Egypt  were 
extended;  the  annual  tribute  to  Turkey  was 
increased  from  one  and  a  half  million  dollars 
to  about  three  and  a  half  million  dollars.  In 
1869,  the  Suez  Canal  was  opened.  This  enter- 
prise owes  its  success,  in  large  part,  to  the 
prodigal  support  given  to  it  by  Isma'il,  especially 
in  contributions  of  forced  Egyptian  labor. 

Tewfik  succeeded  Isma'il,  in  1879,  but  he 
came  into  a  sorry  political  inheritance.  It 
would  have  required  a  strong  hand  to  admin- 
ister the  government  in  such  troublous  times. 
In  1881,  a  military  revolution  broke  out  in 
Cairo.  In  1882,  this  developed  into  a  wide- 
spread rebellion  headed  by  Arabs.  A  massacre 
took  place  in  Alexandria.    Foreigners  began  to 


History  85 

leave  the  country.  Representing  the  Powers 
which  were  pledged  to  conserve  order  in  Egypt, 
England  and  France  sent  their  fleets  to  Alex- 
andria to  suppress  the  rebellion.  France  re- 
fusing to  cooperate,  the  British  fleet  bombarded 
Alexandria  on  July  11th,  1882.  On  September 
13th,  the  rebels  were  defeated  at  Tel-el-Kebir. 
On  the  14th,  an  advanced  guard  reached  Cairo. 
On  the  15th,  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  and  the 
British  Army  formally  occupied  the  city. 


Great  Britain  in  Egypt 

In  an  opening  paragraph  of  this  book,  we  re- 
ferred to  some  of  the  political  developments 
which  we  have  just  traced  as  constituting  a 
political  situation  unrivaled  for  its  strangeness. 
With  these  political  anomalies,  Great  Britain 
has  had  to  deal.  It  would  have  been  a  simple 
problem  for  her,  had  she  not,  unwisely  and  per- 
haps unnecessarily,  pledged,  on  entering  Egypt, 
that  she  would  not  change  existing  conditions 
without  the  consent  of  the  nations. 

Think   of  the  complexity  of  the   situation :  a  complex 
Turkey,  holding  some  undefined  claim,  as  wit- 
nessed by  her  annual  tribute  of  three  and  a  half 
million    dollars    from    Egypt;    the    Khedive, 
nominally  an  independent  ruler  and  at  times 


Situatiou. 


British 
Keforms. 


86    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

trying  to  assert  his  independence ;  six  European 
Powers,  controlling  to  so  large  an  extent  the 
internal  affairs  of  Egypt  through  their  control 
of  Egypt's  finances;  fourteen  Powers,  holding 
treaty  privileges,  which  often  interfere  with 
justice;  and  finally,  England,  on  the  field,  try- 
ing to  run  this  complicated  political  machine. 

Two  decades  and  a  half  of  British  occupation 
have  passed,  and,  in  spite  of  all  difficulties, 
British  administration  has  proved  in  Egypt,  as 
in  so  many  other  lands,  the  truth  of  Lord  Rose- 
berry's  statement,  that  the  British  Empire  is 
"  the  greatest  secular  agency  for  good  kno^vn 
in  the  world." 

The  first  problem  to  be  solved  was  a  financial 
one — Egypt's  debt.  The  story  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  country's  resources,  and  of  the  un- 
tiring labor  involved  in  converting  this  debt  to 
one  of  a  lower  rate  of  interest,  is  a  story  most 
fascinating,  but  requiring  a  large  volume  for 
its  recital.  The  results  are  seen  in  the  fact 
that  the  debt  is  some  $43,715,000  less  than  it 
■was  in  1883,  while  the  annual  interest  charge 
which  the  country  has  to  meet  is  some  $4,450,- 
000  less  than  in  1883. 

The  country's  resources,  on  the  other  hand, 
have  also  been '  developed.  The  government 
revenue  has  been  advanced  from  about  $45,- 
000,000,   in   1883,   to   $74,000,000    in    1905. 


History  87 

That  this  is  the  result  of  the  real  development 
of  tlie  country  and  not  of  increased  oppression, 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  there  has  been  a  con- 
siderable and  steady  reduction  of  taxation.  The 
Corvee,  or  forced  labor,  has  been  abolished ;  this 
alone  represented  to  the  government  $2,000,000 
a  year.  The  land  tax  and  the  salt  tax  have 
been  reduced;  octroi  duties  in  towns  have  been 
abolished.  In  a  previous  chapter,  we  saw  how 
all  of  this  had  resulted  in  the  improvement  of 
the  material  condition  of  the  people. 

In  the  Department  of  Justice  wonderful  re- 
forms have  been  made.  District  courts  have 
expedited  cases,  so  that  where,  under  the  old 
system,  a  case  took  on  an  average  230  days,  the 
average  period  now  is  71  days.  It  is  a  slow 
process,  involving  more  than  political  adminis- 
tration, to  inject  into  the  bribe-corrupted 
Orient  principles  of  justice  and  honesty ;  never- 
theless, great  progress  has  been  made. 

One  large  sphere  has  remained  closed  to  re-  J^*®^^*" 
form,  in  spite  of  its  manifest  need  of  such  re-  Hindrance. 
form.  Back  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, the  Sultan  of  Turkey  was  pleased  to 
make,  to  promote  trade,  certain  concessions  to 
foreigners  living  within  his  dominions.  These 
concessions  were  called  "  Capitulations."  Ow- 
ing to  Egypt's  tributary  relation  to  Turkey, 
these  "  Capitulations  "  obtain  in  Egypt.    .Grig- 


88      Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

inallj  intended  to  relieve  the  foreigners  from 
intolerant  exactions  which  Moslem  laws  might 
lay  upon  a  foreign  trader  and  an  "infidel," 
these  "  Capitulations  "  have  become  the  instrn- 
ments  for  defying  all  law  and  justice.  By  them 
a  foreigner  may  claim  exemption  from  general 
taxation  (customs  dues  and  land  tax  excepted), 
the  inviolability  of  his  domicile,  and  exemption 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  local  courts.  Let  a 
Greek  kill  a  native,  he  may  escape  to  his  house 
and  the  native  police  may  not  enter  to  arrest 
him  without  a  warrant  from  his  consul.  If  he 
is  arrested  on  the  street,  the  police  may  only 
take  him  to  his  consul.  He  is  then  judged  by 
Greek  law.  Thus,  the  foreigner  is  lifted  above 
all  native  law,  and,  where  consular  justice  is 
not  exacting,  above  law  of  any  sort. 

The  establishment  of  the  Mixed  Tribunals,  in 
1876,  granted  some  relief,  by  providing  a  court 
where  cases  of  one  foreigner  against  another, 
or  against  a  native,  may  be  dealt  with.  The  re- 
maining abuses  of  the  "  Capitulations  "  can  be 
corrected  only  through  the  consent  of  the  four- 
teen Powers — Lord  Cromer  is  now  moving  to 
secure  this — or  by  the  less  probable  severance  of 
Egypt's  tributary  relation  to  Turkey,  which 
would  rid  Egypt  of  a  double  burden,  the  tribute 
and  the  "  Capitulations." 


History  89 

Althougli  hindered  and  even  balked  here  and 
there  by  political  complications  such  as  have 
just  been  described,  yet  the  British  redemption 
of  Egypt  has  moved  on  steadily,  in  every  depart- 
ment of  government  administration.  British 
brains  and  British  energy  and  British  honesty 
have  wi*ought  out  a  transformation  of  condi- 
tions. In  all  this  work  of  reconstruction,  no 
figure  has  stood  out  more  conspicuously  than 
that  of  Lord  Cromer.  Theoretically,  he  is  noth- 
ing more  than  Britain's  diplomatic  representa- 
tive in  Egypt.  "  His  Majesty's  Agent  and 
Consul-General,"  as  his  Reports  read.  But  in 
fact,  he  is  the  real  ruler  of  the  land  of  the 
Pharaohs.  That  is  another  feature  of  the  para- 
doxical political  situation.  Unostentatious,  a 
keen  judge  of  men,  a  genius  in  administration, 
the  impersonation  of  the  German  proverb 
"Ohne  Hast,  oline  East,"  *  with  a  measureless 
capacity  for  detail,  Lord  Cromer  has  done  more 
than  any  other  man  to  give  direction  to  British 
policy  in  the  Nile  Valley. 

Tavo  events,  hitherto  unnoted,  are  needed  to 
complete  this  general  historical  survey.  The 
one  is  the  accession  of  'Abbas  II.  Hilmi  to  the 
throne,  at  the  death  of  his  father  in  1892.  The 
other  is  the  reconquest  of  Egypt's  southern 
province,  the  Sudan,  by  General  Kitchener,  and 

*  "  Without  haste,  without  rest." 


Govern- 
luent 


90    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

its  administration  since  1898  by  an  x\nglo- 
Egyptian  government. 

In  brief  outline,  the  present  government  of 
Machinery.  Egypt  is  Carried  on  as  follows.  The  Khedive  is 
ostensibly  the  head  of  the  government.  His 
annual  allowance  is  $500,000.  His  Council 
is  made  up  of  six  Ministers  and  a  British  finan- 
cial adviser.  The  six  Ministers  represent  the 
Department  of  the  Interior,  Finance,  Justice, 
War,  Public  Works  and  Instruction,  and  For- 
eign Affairs.  In  such  case,  the  head  of  a  depart- 
ment is  a  native,  but  there  is  also  a  Britisher 
next  in  charge,  w^ho  is  the  real  directing  power. 
The  influence  of  the  representative  institutions 
may  be  ignored,  for  the  Legislative  Council  is 
only  an  advisory  body,  and  the  General  Assem- 
bly has  only  a  veto  power  in  reference  to 
taxation. 

For  administration,  the  country  is  divided 
into  fourteen  Provinces  or  Mudiriyehs,  and  six 
Governorships.*  The  chief  official  of  a  province 
is  a  Mudirj  that  of  a  governorship  is  a  Mohafez. 
Each  of  these  is  assisted  by  a  council,  or  diwau. 
In  the  provinces,  the  council  includes  the  fol- 
lowing officials:  the  ivel-il  (vice-governor),  the 
chief  clerk,  the  tax-gatherer,  the  accoimtant,  the 
Jcadi  (supreme  judge),  the  superintendent  of 
police,  the  architect  supervising  public  works, 

*  See  Appendix  I. 


History  91 

and  the  chief  physician  of  the  province.  A 
province  is  divided  into  districts  (markaz)  ; 
each  with  a  chief  official  called  a  mamur. 
Under  the  mamur  is  the  'omdeh  or  chief  official 
of  a  commune,  which  may  be  rural  or  urban. 
In  every  province  is  a  British  inspector,  mufet- 
tish.  His  presence  acts  as  a  restraint  upon  dis- 
honesty and  inefficiency. 

In  the  Department  of  Justice,  two  customs 
need  to  be  noted.  One  is  that' of  referring  all 
matters  of  personal  law  to  religious  courts. 
Marriage,  inheritance,  guardianship,  come 
under  this  heading,  and  come  before  courts  ap- 
pointed by  the  several  sects  and  religions.  The 
other  peculiarity  is  that,  in  civil  courts,  a  board 
or  committee,  rather  than  an  individual,  passes 
judgment.  Eecent  reforms  have  introduced 
courts  presided  over  by  a  single  judge  to  dis- 
pose of  cases  of  minor  offenses.  In  general,  in 
all  civil  tribunals,  the  French  code  prevails. 

British  administration  in  Egypt  has  been 
severely  criticized  because  it  seems  often  to 
lend  its  influence  to  Mohammedanism.  A 
double  defence  is  commonly  offered.  The  one 
that  Great  Britain  is  only  assisting  in  the 
government  of  Egypt  and  not  in  full  control; 
the  other,  that  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  country 
is  a  Mohammedan  country,  nine-tenths  of  the 
country  being  Moslems.     The   first  excuse   is 


Criticism. 


92    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

only  specious,  for  every  one  knows  that  the 
government  faithfully  registers  British  wishes, 
and  that  "  Egyptian  hands  and  English  heads  " 
is  a  true  characterization  of  the  political  situa- 
tion. The  second  excuse  is  a  bit  of  false  reason- 
ing. The  government  of  the  country  ought  to 
be  for  Egyptians  as  Egyptians,  not  for  adher- 
ents of  any  faith.  If  the  Moslems  are  Egyp- 
tians, the  Christians  are  equally  truly  Egyp- 
tians; rather  are  the  Christians  the  true  Egyp- 
tians and  the  Moslems  only  invaders  and  in- 
truders. 

The  fact,  however,  remains  that  government 
offices  and  schools  are  open  on  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  though  closed  on  Friday;*  that  native 
Christian  employees  in  Egypt  must  work  on 
Sabbath,  although  even  in  the  Turkish  Empire 
(Beirut,  Damascus,  Constantinople)  no  Chris- 
tian clerk  need  go  to  work  on  Sabbath ;  that 
native  Christians  are  arbitrarily  shut  out  from 
a  number  of  departments  of  government  service, 
although  qualifying  for  them ;  that  all  native 
commissioned  officers  in  the  army  are  Moslems ; 
that  there  were  more  Christian  'omdeJis  through- 
Out  the  country  in  the  days  of  Isma'il  than  under 
the  British;   and  that,   though   the   Christians 

*  To  work  on  Friday  is  not  a  breach  of  Moslem  religion,  as  for 
the  Christian  with  his  Sabbath. 


History  93 

generally  outstrip  Moslems  in  government  ex- 
aminations, preference  is  given  to  Moslem 
candidates. 

The  policy  has  developed  in  Moslem  ranks  a 
spirit  of  pride,  which  leads  the  Moslem  Egyp- 
tian to  believe  that  he  is  essentially  superior  to  a 
Christian.  It  has  led  the  Moslems  to  bolster  up 
their  claims  by  threats  of  a  Holy  War  and  has 
encouraged  them  to  play  politics  with  their 
religion.  The  situation  is  almost  parallel  to  the 
situation  in  India  before  the  Mutiny.  There, 
the  compromises  which  the  government  made 
only  aroused  religious  suspicion.  For  the  Mos- 
lem can  understand  a  man  who  has  a  different 
religion  and  who  stands  by  his  convictions;  but 
the  Moslem  cannot  understand  the  man  who  has 
no  religion,  or,  having  one,  fails  to  openly  avow 
it.  Ulterior  motives  are  naturally  imputed.  In 
India,  it  required  a  Sepoy  Mutiny  to  correct 
the  evil,  and  lead  the  British  Government  to 
declare  itself  a  Christian  government.  Will  it 
require  such  an  experience  to  restrain  this  grow- 
ing spirit  of  Moslem  intolerance  in  Egypt  and 
to  lead  Great  Britain  to  come  out  into  an  open 
declaration  of  her  own  convictions,  although 
exercising  every  toleration  toward  her  subjects 
in  their  different  faiths? 

.  .  General 

We  have  surveyed,  in  outline  at  least,  five  Estimate. 
milleniums  of  Egyptian  history.     We  cannot 


94    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

always  fathom  the  inscrutable  mysteries  of 
Divine  Providence  in  history.  We  know  that, 
if  we  could  only  read  and  fully  understand,  the 
history  of  every  nation  is  the  record  of  God's 
loving  endeavor  to  draw  men  to  Himself.  We 
see  that  clearly  in  the  history  of  Israel,  because 
the  inspired  Word  has  traced  out  for  us 
the  Divine  purpose.  We  cannot  indicate  defi- 
nitely, in  Egyptian  history,  the  crises  at 
which  God  gave  to  the  people  of  Egypt  the  op- 
portunity of  making  a  choice.  Neither  can  we 
point  out  the  testing  periods  in  which  God 
put  the  Egyptian  nation  on  trial.  But  we  be- 
lieve that  again  and  again,  in  her  past  history, 
these  crises  and  periods  came  to  Egypt,  and  be- 
cause the  nation  would  not  respond,  as  Israel 
also  failed  to  respond  at  Kadesh  Barnea,  God 
found  it  necessary  to  lead  Egypt  back  into  the 
wilderness  for  years,  and  even  centuries,  of 
national  discipline  and  suffering. 

We  believe,  however,  that  another  day  of 
opportunity  and  privilege  is  dawning.  Victim 
of  a  degrading  poverty  that  had  made  him 
servile  and  cringing,  the  Egyptian  has,  within 
three  brief  decades,  been  brouglit  to  a  condition 
of  material  prosperity  which  is  developing  with- 
in him  a  feeling  of  self-respect  and  an  increas- 
ing degree  of  independence.  Ignorant  through- 
out centuries,  and  contented  in  his  ignorance, 


History  95 

the  Egyptian  has  now  become  eager  to  learn, 
and  a  revival  of  knowledge  has  literally  swept 
the  country.  Hitherto  unbending  in  his  social 
customs  and  uncompromising  in  his  attitude 
toward  ^Yestern  life  and  thought,  the  Egyptian 
has  been  forced  into  contact  with  the  Western 
world,  to  the  great  modification  of  his  social  life 
and  a  complete  change  of  his  attitude  toward 
Western  civilization.  For  centuries,  too,  ex- 
periencing the  demoralizing  domination  of  Mos- 
lem rulers,  until  "  his  spirit  failed,"  the  Egypt- 
ian has  suddenly  been  granted  a  political 
"savior  and  defender,"  and  Christian  Eng- 
land has  been  brought  into  the  Nile  Valley  to 
check  Moslem  tyranny  and  bring  order  out  of 
chaos.  Add  to  these  significant  facts,  the  signi- 
ficant coincidence  of  a  missionary  movement — 
evangelical  in  its  spirit,  national  in  its  scope, 
prevailing  in  its  efforts,  and  are  we  not  irre- 
sistibly led  to  believe  that  all  these  movements, 
whether  ind-ustrial,  intellectual,  social,  political, 
or  missionary,  are,  after  all,  only  as  scaffolding 
for  building,  in  God's  great  redemptive  purpose 
for  Egypt? 

It  behooves  us,  therefore,  to  pray  that  Chris- 
tian England  may  be  found  faithful  in  the 
great  part  she  is  playing  in  the  plans  of  God; 
that  the  Church  may,  by  the  adequate  extension 
of  her  Missions,  give  Egypt  every  advantage 
8 


yG    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

possible  for  deciding  aright;  and  that  Egypt 
herself,  in  the  impending  crisis  of  a  determin- 
ing decision,  may  not  neglect  so  great  a  salva- 
tion as  God  is  preparing  for  her. 


CHAPTEE   IV 


EELIGIONS 


Three  distinct  faiths  have  held  sway  over 
Egypt.  The  ancient  pagan  religion  of  Egypt 
prevailed  almost  uninterruptedly  from  the  earl- 
iest times  to  the  dawn  of  the  Christian  Era. 
Then  Christianity  entered,  and,  by  the  fourtli 
century,  Egypt  had  become,  nominally,  a  Chris- 
tian nation.  In  the  seventh  century,  Moham- 
medanism swept  over  the  country  and  steadily 
displaced,  and  almost  effaced,  Christianity. 

Religion  of  Ancient  Egypt 

The  great  antiquity  and  the  high  develop- 
ment of  the  religion  of  Ancient  Egypt  is  a  mat- 
ter for  wonder  and  admiration.  The  great  body 
of  texts — some  4,000  lines — to  be  found  on  the 
interiors  of  the  Pyramids  of  the  fifth  and  sixth 
dynasties,  shows  that  even  four  thousand  years 
ago,  the  ofiicial  religion  had  reached  a  com- 
pletely developed  stage.  There  are  those  who 
think  that  the  earliest  writings  indicate  a  be- 
lief in  one  God  and  that  polytheism  was  a  later 
development,  because  the  earliest  temples  have 
no  idolatrous  svmbols.  The  more  commonly 
97 


The  Future 
Life. 


98     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

accepted  view  is,  that  the  religion  of  the  country 
was  the  product  of  some  effort  to  systematize 
the  local  divinities  and  cults  into  a  consistent 
system,  and  that  this  process  of  religious  uni- 
fication was  related  to  a  political  unification  of 
the  country  into  a  single  kingdom.  Thus  many 
became  henotheists,  or  worshipers  of  one  god 
who  was  greatly  exalted  above  all  other  gods; 
and  some  were  probably  monotheists. 

The  religion  of  Ancient  Egypt  seems  to  have 
been  a  sort  of  spiritualized  Nature  worship.  The 
sun  god  Ra,  or  Re,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  suc- 
cession of  gods.  He  is  represented  as  a  hawk- 
headed  man,  bearing  on  his  head  the  solar  disk, 
around  which  was  coiled  the  uraeus,  a  symbol 
of  royal  power.  Of  all  the  gods,  except  Osiris, 
Re  was  the  most  widely  worshiped.  There 
were,  however,  many  other  gods  and  goddesses; 
a  list  of  only  the  chief  Egyptian  deities  gives 
us  more  than  sixty. 

The  belief  that  gods  chose  animals  as  their 
abode  led  to  the  worship  of  these,  as  of  the 
bulls,  Apis  and  Mnevis.  Later,  not  only  was 
some  individual  animal  worshiped,  but  all 
animals  of  the  same  kind  were  held  to  be  divine. 
Thus  we  have  the  cat  cemeteries  of  Bubastis, 
the  crocodile  graves  of  Ombos,  etc. 

The  ancient  Egyptian  religion,  however,  is 
paost  remarkable  for  its  doctrine  of  the  future 


Religions  99 

life  and  the  grasp  of  truth  which  characterized 
it  in  so  early  an  age.  It  seems  clear,  "  that  the 
Egyptians  attributed  to  the  human  soul  a  divine 
origin,  that  they  held  that  it  was  throughout 
life  engaged  in  the  warfare  of  good  and  evil, 
and  that  after  life  its  final  state  was  determined 
by  judgment  according  to  its  doings  on  earth." 

Osiris  was  the  god  of  the  dead.  In  his  king- 
dom, departed  souls  lived  on  so  long  as  the 
corpse  remained  intact.  It  was  this  teaching 
that  set  such  a  high  premium  upon  the  embalm- 
ing of  the  body  and  the  building  of  a  tomb  for  ibs 
preservation. 

We  thus  have  in  this  ancient  religion,  a  close 
approach  to  the  idea  of  one  God,  the  doctrine  of 
immortality,  and  the  idea  of  a  judgment  em- 
phasizing, for  this  life,  distinctions  of  morality 
in  human  conduct.  In  later  centuries,  however, 
these  glimmers  of  truth  became  obscured  by  gross 
polytheism  and  idolatr}',  and  immoral  practises 
characterized  religious  celebrations. 

Present  Day  Religions 

We  get  from  the  census  of  1897  a  clear  idea 
of  the  religions  which  prevail  in  the  Nile  Val- 
ley to-day.  Of  every  10,000  of  the  population, 
we  find  that  9,223  are  Moslems,  663  are  so-called 
Orthodox  Christians,  63  are  Catholics,  26  arc 


100     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Jews,  25  are  Protestants.  The  so-called  Ortho- 
dox Christians  are  for  the  most  part  Copts,  al- 
though a  very  small  percentage  of  Greek-Ortho- 
dox, Syrian-Orthodox,  and  Armenian-Orthodox 
Christians  are  included  under  this  heading. 
The  dominant  religion  of  Egypt  is  clearly  the 
Mohammedan  religion.  The  Coptic  Church, 
however,  has  a  history  so  interesting,  its  mem- 
bership of  over  a  half  million  souls  constitutes 
so  influential  a  community  in  Egypt,  and  its 
members  have  borne  such  a  significant  relation 
to  mission  work  in  Egypt,  that  it  deserves  to 
receive  special  consideration. 

The  Mohammedans  constitute  95.27  per 
cent,  of  the  entire  population  of  Lower  Egypt, 
and  87.96  per  cent  of  that  of  Upper  Egypt. 

Entrance  of  Christianity 

The  modern  sightseer  in  Egypt  ordinarily 
visits  Old  Cairo,  built  upon  the  site  of  an 
ancient  fortress,  called  Babylon.  So  early  as 
at  the  time  of  Christ,  there  was  a  colony  of 
Jews  at  this  place.  It  is  not  in  the  least  an 
improbable  tradition,  therefore,  which  points 
out  an  ancient  church  in  this  section,  and  within 
it  a  tiny  church,  a  mere  crypt  of  the  upper 
church  building,  as  marking  the  site  where 
Joseph  and  Mary  and  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem 


Religions  101 

lived  during  their  sojourn  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 
This  Babylon  near  Cairo  is  identified  by  strong 
traditions  with  Babylon  from  which  Peter  wrote 
his  Epistles. 

Whatever  the  truth  may  be  about  these  mat-  JoUnaiark. 
ters,  it  seems  an  established  fact  that,  through 
the  preaching  of  John  Mark,  Christianity  was 
introduced  into  Egypt  in  about  45  A.D.  It 
was  in  the  city  of  Alexandria  that  Mark  is  said 
to  have  gained  his  first  converts,  and  there  also 
that  he  laid  down  his  life  in  martyr  protest  to 
the  idolatrous  practises  of  the  worshippers  of 
Serapis.  In  the  philosophical  and  intellectual 
and  rather  tolerant  atmosphere  of  Alexandria, 
Christianity  made  rapid  progress.  Within  a 
century,  that  it  might  in  nothing  be  behind 
other  cults  in  its  intellectual  power,  Christian- 
ity had  established  for  itself  a  college,  known  as 
the  Catechetical  School  of  Alexandria. 

The  x\Iexandrian  Church  came  into  promi- 
nence through  such  men  as  Pantaenus  and  his 
more  famous  pupil,  Clement  of  Alexandria. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  these  theological 
professors  were  more  than  once  called  upon  to 
render  missionary  service  to  the  Church.  Leav- 
ing his  post  at  the  head  of  the  school  in  Alex- 
andria, Pantaenus  went  on  a  missionary  journey 
to  India  in  response  to  a  request  which  came 
from  that  country  to  the  Patriarch  of  Alexan- 


102     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

dria,  that  he  would  send  them  a  teacher  of  the 
Christian  faith,  whose  learning  would  equal  his 
piety. 

The  comparatively  peaceful  development  of 
Christianity  was  disturbed,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  third  century,  by  the  persecution  of  Severus, 
and  the  School  at  Alexandria  was  temporarily 
closed  while  the  martyrs  witnessed  to  the  truth 
with  their  lives.  Among  those  who  thus  died 
was  Leonides,  the  father  of  the  great  Origen. 
Origen.  Origen  himself,  though  but  a  boy,  came  into 
prominence  through  his  remarkable  intellectual 
powers.  He  was  appointed  head  of  the  School 
at  Alexandria  during  these  troublous  times. 
This  made  him  a  mark  for  the  hatred  of  the 
pagan  populace,  but  his  ready  wit  and  even  tem- 
per carried  him  safely  through  many  dangers. 
"  Eusebius  relates  that  one  day  the  mob  seized 
him  in-the  street  and  bore  him  in  a  tempestuous 
procession  to  the  great  temple  of  Serapis. 
Here,  by  main  force,  but  apparently  without 
real  violence,  they  gave  him  the  tonsure  (of  the 
pagan  priesthood),  clothed  him  in  the  white 
robe  of  a  priest  of  the  temple,  and  then  brought 
him  out  and  held  him  on  the  top  of  the  great 
flight  of  steps.  Here  they  bade  him  distribute 
the  palms  to  the  throng  of  idol  worshippers,  who 
laughed  and  applauded  below.  Origen  took 
the   palm   branches    and   offered   them   to   ih° 


Religions  103 

people,  crying  aloud,  as  he  did  so,  '  Come  and 
receive  the  palms,  not  of  idols,  but  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.'  It  is  a  pleasant  scene  to  dwell 
upon  in  that  gloomy  and  painful  time :  the  great 
temple  fortress,  dark  against  the  blue  of  an 
Egyptian  sky ;  the  court  below,  full  of  the  laugh- 
ing, hooting,  many-colored  Oriental  mob;  the 
majestic  flight  of  steps,  swarming  with  more 
insistent  pagans,  laden  with  the  graceful 
branches;  and  in  the  midst  of  them  that  one 
youthful  figure  with  the  strong  sunlight  on  his 
white  robe  and  smiling  face,  holding  up  the 
palm  and  striking  silence  on  the  crowd  with  his 
clear,  dauntless  call  to  the  worship  of  Christ."  * 
It  is  worth  noticing,  as  indicating  the  leading 
position  which  the  Church  in  Egypt  held  in  the 
Christendom  of  that  day,  that  the  T^ovatian 
heresy — that  to  recant  is  an  unpardonable  sin 
— was  referred  to  the  Patriarch  of  Alexandria 
for  settlement.  Yet  the  power  of  Rome  was 
steadily  growing,  and  the  day  was  not  far  off 
when  this  primacy  of  the  Egyptian  Church 
would  be  disputed.  The  Eastern  and  Western 
Churches  were  developing  along  different  lines, 
doubtless  following  the  personal  characteristics 
of  their  leading  theologians:  Origen  of  Alex- 
andria in  the  East  (185-254),  and  Augustine 
,  of  Hippo  in  the  West  (354-430). 

*E.  L.  Butcher,  "  The  Storj  of  the  Church  of  Egypt,"  vol.  I.,  55. 


104    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Era  of  'pjjQ  qIqyj  ^f  i\^q  persecution  of  the  Egyptian 
Church  under  pagan  emperors  is  well  worth 
reading.  The  greatest  persecution  was  in  the 
fourth  century,  under  Diocletian.  This  fourth 
century  ushered  in  what  was  for  the  whole 
world,  but  especially  for  Egypt,  the  Era  of 
Martyrs.  The  edict  went  forth  that  all  churches 
were  to  be  demolished,  all  sacred  books  burned, 
all  Christians  in  official  positions  demoted,  all 
Christians  who  were  not  in  official  positions 
reduced  to  slavery.  The  following  quotation 
from  Eusebius  will  give  some  conception  of  the 
sorrows  of  the  Egyptian  Church  during  this 
period : 

"  It  would  exceed  all  power  of  detail  to  give 
an  idea  of  the  sufferings  and  tortures  which  the 
martyrs  of  Thebais  endured.  These  had  their 
bodies  scraped  with  shells  instead  of  hooks,  and 
were  mangled  in  this  way  until  they  died. 
Women  tied  by  one  foot  and  then  raised  in  the 

air  by  certain  machines presented 

this  most  cruel  and  inhuman  spectacle  to  all 
beholders ;  others,  again,  perished,  bound  to  trees 
and  branches,  for,  drawing  the  stoutest  of  the 
branches  together  by  machines  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  binding  the  limbs  of  the  martyrs  to 
each  of  these,  they  then  let  loose  the  boughs 
to  resume  their  natural  position,  designing  thus 
to  produce  a  violent  action  to  tear  asunder  the 


Religions  105 

limbs  of  those  whom  thej  thus  treated.  And 
all  these  things  were  doing  not  only  for  a  few 
days  or  some  time,  but  for  a  series  of  whole 
years.  At  one  time  ten  or  more^  at  another 
time  more  than  twenty,  at  another  time  not  less 
than  thirty  and  even  sixty,  and  again  at  an- 
other time  a  hundred  men  with  their  wives  and 
little  children  were  slain  in  one  day." 

From  this  Era  of  Martyrs,  the  Coptic  Church 
reckons  time,  using,  however,  the  first  year  of 
Diocletian  (284  A.D.)  as  the  actual  starting 
point.  Thus  the  year  1907  A.D.  is  the  year 
1623  in  the  Coptic  calendar. 

Constantino's  accession  to  the  throne,  in  32-1, 
brought  a  happy  relief  to  the  persecuted  Egyp- 
tian Church,  and,  from  this  time  on,  Christian- 
ity may  be  regarded  as  the  dominant  religion  in 
Egypt. 

Soon,  however,  internal  strife  and  discord  Arian 
reappeared.  A  grave  and  blameless  presbyter  of 
Alexandria,  seeking  to  defend  himself  against 
the  heathen  charge  that  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  was  polytheistic,  became  en- 
tangled in  the  heresy  which  finally  took  his 
name,  Arianism.  He  denied  the  deity  of  Christ, 
and  was,  therefore,  the  forerunner  of  the  Uni- 
tarian of  to-day.  The  Patriarch  of  Alexandria 
was  unable  to  reclaim  the  young  man,  and,  after 
repeated  conferences,  excommunicated  him.     A 


106     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

great  controversy  ensued.  The  name  of  Athan- 
asiiis  stands  out  most  prominently  in  the  de- 
fence of  the  deity  of  Christ.  The  Emperor 
Constantine,  favoring  Arianism,  called  the 
Coimcil  of  Nicea,  the  first  of  the  famous 
Ecumenical  Councils.  This  Council  decided 
against  Arius.  The  Imperial  Party  then 
sought  to  secure  by  imperial  authority  what 
they  had  been  unable  to  secure  by  argument — 
the  restoration  of  Arius  to  the  priesthood.  The 
firm  refusal  of  Athanasius,  now  Patriarch  of 
the  Egyptian  Church,  to  accede  to  this,  led  to 
his  displacement  and  the  appointment  of  an 
Arian  Patriarch.  The  great  body  of  the 
Church  in  Egypt,  however,  refused  to  recognize 
the  imperial  candidate  and  stood  loyally  by 
Athanasius.  The  conflict  which  followed  was 
a  significant  one.  It  led  to  the  establishment  in 
Egypt  of  a  Church,  rival  to  the  Egyptian 
Church,  called  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church,  and 
surviving  even  to-day.  It  drew  the  Egyptian 
Church  into  conflict  with  the  political  power  of 
the  Emperor,  and  led  the  Church  into  a  sphere 
of  political  activity  which  undermined  her 
spiritual  life.  It  also  led  to  a  bitter  rivalry  be- 
tween the  Church  of  Egypt  and  the  Church  at 
Constantinople.  The  maintenance  of  her 
ecclesiastical  primacy  in  Christendom  became 
the  supreme  thought  of  the  Egyptian  Church; 


Religions  107 

on  almost  every  occasion  this  issue  was  raised. 
After  Atlianasiiis  bad  passed  away,  the  Church 
leadership  came  into  the  hands  of  dogmatic  and 
self-assertive  men. 

Disappointed   and   disheartened  by  the  ear-  Monastic 

, .  .  1  11  .  '  ,     T        Movement. 

iier  persecutions  and  now  by  these  internal  dis- 
sensions, the  best  spirits  of  the  Egyptian  Church 
were  carried  away  by  the  wave  of  Monasticism 
which  swept  the  country.  Were  it  not  for  the 
testimony  of  contemporary  writers,  it  would  be 
hard  to  believe  the  extent  to  which  the  popula- 
tion became  monies  and  nuns.  Of  course  many 
of  these  were  actuated  by  low  and  false  motives, 
but  the  retirement  of  the  others  was  a  disastrous 
loss  to  the  Egyptian  nation  and  the  Church. 
The  conception  of  the  Christian  life  which  now 
prevailed  was  flight  from  the  world  rather  than 
victory  over  the  world. 

In  the  middle  ages,  the  monastery  was  the 
embryo  university,  and  from  the  monastery 
shone  the  light  which  marked  the  dawn  of  the 
Renaissance.  The  Egyptian  monastery,  on  the 
contrary,  has  ever  been  a  center  of  ignorance. 
Material  and  debased  conceptions  of  God  pre- 
vailed, marked  by  great  bigotry  and  ignorance. 
When,  in  399,  the  Patriarch  Theophilus, 
in  his  paschal  letter,  rebuked  the  monastic  ten- 
dencies, a  whole  army  of  monks  left  ISTitria, 
hurried   through  the  desert,   stormed   the   Pa- 


108    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

triarch  in  his  palace  with  threats  of  instant 
death  if  he  did  not  take  back  his  words.  The 
Patriarch  helplessly  acceded  to  their  demands. 

It  was  about  this  time — as  the  readers  of 
Kingsley's  "  Hypatia "  will  remember — that 
the  temple  of  Serapis  at  Alexandria  was  de- 
stroyed by  order  of  the  Emperor,  but  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Patriarch.  It  was  with 
a  superstitious  awe  and  fear  that  the  Christian 
populace  and  the  Alexandrian  soldiery  wended 
their  way  into  the  inmost  shrine  from  which, 
for  six  hundred  years,  the  great  god  had  ruled 
Egypt.  l^Tot  till  one  of  the  soldiers  had 
struck  the  statue,  and  the  head  of  the  god  rolled 
to  the  ground,  and  out  of  the  trunk  leaped  a 
colony  of  frightened  mice,  not  till  then  did  the 
crowd  feel  reassured. 

In  the  early  half  of  the  fifth  century,  there 
appeared  that  heresy  which  cut  the  Egyptian 
Church  off  from  the  rest  of  Christendom.  It 
is  called  the  Monophysite  heresy.  It  came  as  a 
reaction  from  another  heresy,  the  Nestorian. 
!N^estorius  had  asserted  that  the  two  natures  of 
Christ,  the  human  and  the  divine,  were  so 
separate  and  distinct  as  to  prevent  one  nature 
from  qualifying  the  acts  of  the  other  nature. 
The  Council  of  Ephesus  condemned  this  heresy 
and  asserted  the  unity  of  the  two  natures  of 
Christ.    Such  emphasis,  however,  was  laid  upon 


Religions  109 

this  unity  of  the  two  natures,  that  the  Egyptian 
Patriarch,  Dioscorus,  went  one  step  farther,  and 
declared  that  in  the  incarnation  the  human  na- 
ture was  transmuted  into  the  divine  and  the 
result  was  one  person  with  one  nature.  This 
is  called  the  Monophysite  heresy,  and  is  in  con- 
tradiction to  the  guarded  statement  of  the 
Shorter  Catechism  which  declares  that  Jesus 
Christ,  "  being  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  became 
man,  and  so  was,  and  continueth  to  be,  God 
and  man,  in  two  distinct  natures  and  one  per- 
son forever." 

The  position  of  the  Egyptian  Church  was 
condemned  by  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  and 
the  Egyptian  Patriarch  was  excommunicated  as 
a  heretic.  Reading  between  the  lines  in  the 
record  of  the  Council  of  Chalcedon,  we  cannot 
help  feeling  that  the  heat  of  discussion  was 
generated,  not  so  much  by  fires  of  theological 
conviction,  as  by  fires  of  passion  for  ecclesi- 
astical supremacy.  The  Egyptian  Church  had 
arrayed  against  her  tlie  united  influence  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  Church  at  Constan- 
tinople; the  decision  of  the  Council  meant  the 
overthrow  of  the  primacy  of  the  Egyptian 
Church,  as  well  as  the  safeguarding  of  a  correct 
definition  concerning  the  person  of  Christ. 

We    have    now    traced    the    introduction    of 
Christianity   into   Egj'pt,   its   sufferings   under 
9 


110    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

the  persecution  of  pagan  emperors,  its  steadfast 
and  heroic  endurance,  its  extension  throughout 
the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  its  establishment  as  the 
national  religion  of  Egypt,  and,  finally,  the 
elements  of  decay  which  undermined  its  power. 
The  chapter  dealing  with  the  history  of  Egypt 
portrayed,  with  sufficient  clearness,  the  Moslem 
invasion  in  640  A.D.,  and  the  political  experi- 
ences under  Moslem  domination  which  reduced 
the  Egyptian  Church  from  a  national  Church, 
with  a  membership  of  from  five  to  eight  mil- 
lion souls  in  the  seventh  century,  to  the  despised 
and  degraded  Coptic  *  Church  of  to-day,  with 
only  some  six  hundred  thousand  members. 
Present  ^  vital  qucstion  is.  What  is  the  present  con- 
tion.  ^.^-^^  ^£  ^j^jg  Church?     Dr.  A.  M.  Fairbairn 

says,  "  No  Church  can  live  on  its  past ;  it 
must  live  by  faith  and  duty  in  the  present ;  no 
Church  has  any  claim  to  be,  whose  only  right 
is  historical."  From  a  missionary  point  of 
view,  the  present  condition  of  the  Coptic 
Church  is  a  doubly  important  question,  for 
there  are  those  who  challenge  the  right  of  the 
missionary  to  work  among  the  adherents  of  this 
or  of  any  Oriental  Church.  If  missions  aim 
only  at  establishing  in  the  world  a  formal  or 
nominal  Christianity,  then  there  is  no  justifica- 

*  Or  Egyptian.     The  Arabs  were  unable  to  correctly  pro- 
nounce the  Greek  'Aiguptos. 


CHURCH    BUILDINGS 

Native  Protestant  Church,  KeneL 

Intarior  of   Coptic   Cathedral,  Cairo 


Religions  111 

tion  for  laboring  among  those  who,  nominally  at 
least,  are  Christians.  But  if  the  aim  of  mis- 
sions is  the  salvation  of  the  individual  through 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  and  the  establishment  of 
churches  holding  to  evangelical  truth  as  founded 
on  the  Word  of  God,  then  we  only  need  to  know 
the  actual  condition  of  the  Coptic  Church  to 
recognize  her  need  for  Christian  evangelization. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  Mono- 
physite  error  in  the  doctrinal  position  of  the 
Coptic  Church.  The  Coptic  Church  teaches 
that  Christ  possesses  one  nature  instead  of  two. 
This  may  seem  a  mere  subtlety  of  psychological 
discussion;  but  the  significance  of  the  Coptic 
heresy  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  perfect  balance 
between  Christ's  human  and  divine  natures  was 
lost;  Christ  became  more  divine  than  human; 
He  became,  indeed,  so  far  removed  from  the 
human  that  He  lost  His  mediating  power;  it 
became  necessary  to  seek  other  mediating  chan- 
nels, and  this  led  to  the  development  of  a  sys- 
tem of  Marialotry  and  saint  worship,  which  has 
proved  the  utter  ruin  of  pure  worship  and 
Christian  liberty. 

The  Copts  are  immersionists,  but  not  in  the 
Western  sense  of  the  term,  for,  while  they  prac- 
tise immersion  as  the  form  of  baptism,  they 
practise  infant  baptism,  dipping  the  child  three 
times  into  the  water.    The  confessional  is  nearly 


112     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

as  important  as  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Transubstantiation  is  the  universal  belief,  and 
the  Copt  is  taught  to  say,  ''  I  believe,  I  believe, 
I  believe,  that  this  bread  is  the  very  flesh  and 
blood  of  the  body  of  Christ  that  was  born  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin."  This  being  their  belief,  the 
greatest  care  is  taken  that  not  a  crumb  of  the 
consecrated  bread  be  lost,  but  all  carefully  eaten. 
Fasting.  "  The  most  important  of  all  duties  with  the 
Copt  is  fasting.  Practically,  this  is  the  ground 
of  pardon  and  the  necessary  means  of  salvation. 
The  regular  seasons  of  fasting  occupy  more  than 
half  of  the  year.  There  is  the  Great  Fast  in 
the  spring,  which,  instead  of  occupying  forty 
days,  as  in  the  other  Christian  sects,  has  been 
lengthened  to  fifty-five  days.  Then  there  is  the 
fast  of  the  ISTativity,  the  fast  of  the  Apostles, 
the  fast  of  the  Virgin,  the  fast  of  Jonah,  etc. 
During  these  fasts  there  is  daily  service  in  the 
Church.  Fasting  Avith  the  Copts  does  not,  how- 
ever, consist  in  total  abstinence  from  all  food 
or  drink,  either  during  the  day  or  during  the 
night,  but  only  the  avoidance  of  certain  kinds 
of  food  or  drink,  especially  animal  flesh  and 
milk  and  butter.  Different  fasts  have  their 
special  injunctions  in  this  respect.  Strange  to 
say,  intoxicants  are  among  the  drinks  allowed; 
on  what  principle  I  cannot  conceive.  There  are 
seven  principal  festivals,  those  which  commem- 


Religions  113 

orate  respectively  the  I^ativitj,  the  Baptism, 
the  Triumphal  Entry,  the  Resurrection,  the 
Ascension,  Pentecost,  and  the  Annunciation  of 
the  Virgin. 

"  The  church  service  is  long,  lasting  about 
three  hours,  and  consists  of  reading,  chanting, 
praying,  accompanied  with  the  burning  of  in- 
cense, the  beating  of  cymbals,  and  the  proces- 
sion of  the  Host  around  the  church.  The  cross 
is  conspicuous  everywhere,  and  before  it  the 
people  bow  and  muttor  certain  expressions  of 
adoration.  The  language  used  is  for  the  most 
part  the  old  Coptic — the  mass  being  ahvays  con- 
ducted in  this  sacred  language.  The  dress  of  the 
clergy  officiating  is  gayly  ornamented,  and  the 
vestments  and  head-dress  seem  to  be  imitations  of 
those  worn  by  the  Jewish  priesthood.  The  Cop- 
tic churches  have  pictures,  but  no  images. 

"  The  head  of  the  Coptic  Church  is  the  Pa- 
triarch of  Alexandria,  but  he  spends  the  greater 
part  of  his  time  in  Cairo.  He  has  a  large  rev- 
enue from  the  numerous  houses  and  estates 
which  have,  in  the  course  of  many  generations, 
come  into  the  possession  of  the  Church  through 
purchase  or  gift.  He  holds  office  for  life  and  is 
selected  from  monks  designated  by  the,Superior 
of  the  Convent  of  St.  Anthony,  near  the  Gulf  of 
Suez.  He  must,  of  course,  be  unmarried,  and 
must  continue  his  monastic  customs  and  liabits 


Church 
Orders. 


114    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

even  though  occupying  this  exalted  position. 
The  Patriarch's  authority  is  supreme  and  of- 
ten despotic.  He  appoints  the  Metropolitan  of 
the  Abyssinian  Church,  and  compels  him  to  go 
to  that  distant  region  whether  he  wills  or  not. 
ISText  in  rank  to  the  Patriarch  are  the  bishops; 
who,  when  their  number  is  full,  are  twelve.  Be- 
low the  bishops,  who  also  must  be  monks,  are 
the  arch-priests,  who  are  sometimes  at  the  head 
of  the  convents,  and  are  sometimes  chosen 
directly  from  the  order  of  the  priesthood.  Their 
functions  correspond  to  those  of  archdeacons 
in  the  Episcopal  churches  of  the  West.  N^ext 
to  these  are  the  priests,  who  may  be  married, 
provided  the  marriage  has  taken  place  before 
their  ordination.  If  the  wife  of  a  priest  should 
die,  he  is  not  allowed  to  marry  again,  in  accord- 
ance with  their  interpretation  of  I.Timothy  3  :2. 
The  priests  are  not  compelled  to  abstain  from 
secular  labor.  Many  supplement  their  income 
by  engaging  in  some  trade  or  profession.  Under 
the  priests  are  the  deacons,  who  are  chosen  to 
serve  the  priest  and  aid  in  the  chanting.  They 
are  generally  mere  boys.  Both  priests  and  dea- 
cons receive  ordination  from  the  hands  of  the 
bishop  or  Patriarch."  * 

Concerning    the    influence    of    the    Coptic 
Church  upon  the  life  of  its  members,  a  mis- 

*  A.  Watson,  "American  Mission  in  Egypt,  55,  56. 


PIONEER   MISSIONARIES    (1854-1864) 

Rev.  James   Barnett,  D.D. 

Rev.  Gulian  Lansing,  D.D.  Mrs.  Henrietta   McCagub 

Rev.  Thomas  McCague,  D.D. 
Mrs.  Maria  G.  Lansing  Miss  Martha  J.  McKown 

Mrs.  Sarah  B.  (Dales)  Lansing  See  opp.  page  182 


Religions  115 

sionary  *  recently  wrote,  "  I  inquired  recently 
of  one  who  knows  the  Church  and  its  people 
well,  if  he  knew  of  a  wicked  man  who  had  been 
truly  reclaimed  from  his  vices  by  means  of  the 
ceremonies  and  usages  of  the  Coptic  Church. 
He  replied  that  he  did  not  know  a  single  case. 
Indeed,  he  spoke  as  if  such  a  result  was  not 
expected." 

Concerning  the  standards  of  morality  which  Morality  ot 
prevail  among  Copts,  he  adds,  "  In  general  it  **** "' 
may  be  said  that  the  great  majority  of  the  Copts 
are  addicted  to  the  common  sins  of  the  nation, 
lying,  profane  swearing,  lack  of  strict  honesty 
in  their  dealings ;  while  not  a  few  are  given  to 
drunkenness  and  other  violations  of  the  moral 
law.  These  sins  are  not  confined  to  any  one 
class,  for,  in  many  cases,  not  only  are  the  com- 
mon priests  companions  of  the  immoral  in  their 
wickedness,  but  even  the  higher  dignitaries 
among  the  clergy  dare  not  rebuke  the  people  for 
sins  of  which  they  themselves  are  guilty. 

"A  few  days  ago  I  was  informed  of  a  young 
Copt  who  had  been  living  in  sin,  a  drunkard 
and  gambler.  So  abandoned  had  he  become 
that  his  father  put  him  out  of  the  house.  After 
this  he  went  to  a  place  several  hundred  miles 
distant  from  his  home.  Here  he  was  met  by 
one  of  our  brethren,  who  talked  with  him  and 

♦  Rev.  "Wm.  Harrey,  D.  D.,  missionary  to  Egypt  since  1865. 


116    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

persuaded  him  to  attend  the  meetings  held  in 
our  schoolroom.  God  blessed  these  means,  so 
that  the  young  man  abandoned  his  evil  ways, 
gave  evidence  of  faith  in  the  Saviour,  applied 
for  admission  to  the  Evangelical  Church  and 
was  received.  In  the  meantime,  the  Copts  in 
the  town  did  all  they  could  to  keep  him  from 
attending  the  services,  which  had  been  blessed 
to  his  benefit." 

The  estimate  of  another  missionary  *  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  moral 
character  of  a  man  has  nothing  to  do  with  mem- 
bership in  the  Cpptic  Church.  Xo  one  ever 
heard  of  a  Copt  being  disciplined  for  drunken- 
ness, or  lying,  or  any  other  evil  practise. 

"  To  me  the  outlook  at  present  for  the  spirit- 
ual reformation  of  the  Coptic  Church  is  much 
the  same  as  the  political  outlook  for  the  re- 
formation of  the  Turkish  Empire." 

It  is  such  an  estimate  of  the  Coptic  Church, 
based  on  wide  observation  and  intimate  prac- 
tical acquaintance,  that  has  led  missionaries  to 
consider  the  Copts  as  being  within  the  scope  of 
their  missionary  commission. 
Reiponse  Qu  the  Other  hand,  the  Copts  have  been  more 
responsive  than  any  others  to  the  missionary 
appeal.  The  Protestant  Evangelical  Church 
of  to-day  is  largely  built  up  of  those  who  have 

*  Rev.  Andrew  Watson,  D.  D.,  missionary  to  Egypt  since  1861. 


to  Gospel. 


Religions  117 

come  out  from  this  Coptic  Church.  Their  ac- 
ceptance of  and  high  regard  for  the  Word  of 
God,  has  given  the  missionary  a  common  ground 
from  which  to  present  the  truth  and  refute 
error.  Their  Christian  antecedents  have  made 
them  more  willing  to  listen  to  the  Gospel.  Thus 
does  God's  protection  of  this  remnant  of  the 
Egyptian  National  Church  throughout  the  past 
thirteen  centuries,  seem  to  form  a  part  in  this 
twentieth  century  of  His  gracious  purposes  for 
redeeming  Egypt. 

Mohammedanism 

In  surveying  the  history  of  Egypt,  the  Mos- 
lem invasion,  in  640  A.D.,  was  considered  from 
a  political  point  of  view.  We  now  wish  to  con- 
sider its  religious  aspect,  for  the  dominant  re- 
ligion of  Egypt  to-day  is  Islam.  According  to 
the  census  of  1897,  there  are  in  Egypt  8,978,- 
775  Moslems;  this  is  92.23  per  cent,  of  the 
population.  Three  factors  contributed  to  the 
transformation  of  Egypt  from  a  Christian  to  a 
Moslem  country.  A  considerable  number  of 
Moslems  invaded  the  country;  almost  every 
governor  brought  to  Egypt  several  thousands  of 
Moslem  troops ;  whilewe  read,  from  time  to  time, 
of  whole  tribes  migrating  from  Arabia  to  Egypt. 
The  constant  persecution  of  the  Christians  and 


118    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

the  disabilities  inflicted  upon  them,  led  many 
of  them  to  give  up  their  faith  and  become  Mo- 
hammedans ;  the  natural  increase  of  the  Chris- 
tian population  was  also  checked.  Finally,  both 
the  unchecked  increase  of  the  Moslem  popula- 
tion and  the  intermarriage  of  Moslems  and 
Christians,  with  the  consequent  claims  of  Mo- 
hammedanism to  the  children  of  such  mixed 
marriages,  would  provide  any  explanation  still 
needed  to  account  for  the  present  predominance 
of  Islam  in  Egypt. 

Many  books  are  available,  presenting,  in  de- 
tail, the  life  of  Mohammed,  the  doctrines  of 
Islam,  and  its  spread  throughout  the  Oriental 
world.  We  must  limit  ourselves,  however,  here 
to  the  briefest  outline  of  the  doctrines,  practises, 
and  the  moral  and  religious  significance,  of 
Islam  in  the  Nile  Valley. 
A  Leading  ^  reccut  authority  places  the  number  of  Mo- 
hammedans in  the  world  at  232,966,170. 
Numerically,  therefore,  one-twenty-sixth  of  the 
Moslem  population  of  the  world  is  to  be  found 
in  Egypt.  This  does  not  give  a  true  idea  of  the 
influence  which  Egypt  exerts  in  the  Moslem  re- 
ligious world.  Arabic  is  the  language  of  the 
Koran.  No  country,  therefore,  whose  language 
is  not  Arabic  could  properly  claim  primacy  in 
the  Moslem  religious  world.  Among  Arabic- 
speaking  Mohammedan  nations,  giving  us  an 


Religions  119 

aggregate  population  of  some  forty-five  million 
souls,  Egypt  may  certainly  claim  to  be  the  lead- 
ing nation,  both  because  one-fifth  of  that  world 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Nile  Valley,  and  because 
Egypt,  with  her  great  Mohammedan  Univer- 
sity, the  Azhar,  is  the  acknowledged  seat  of 
Mohammedan  learning.  Egypt  is,  therefore,  in 
a  true  sense,  the  center  of  the  Moslem  world, 
the  citadel  of  its  power,  the  stronghold  of  the 
Crescent.  If  Christianity  can  carry,  by  assault 
or  by  siege,  this  "  Port  Arthur  "  of  Islam,  we 
may  easily  count  upon  victory  for  the  army  of 
Christ  along  its  whole  far-flung  battle  line. 

The  fact  is  often  overlooked  that  Moham- 
medanism has  its  sects.  There  is  the  Sunni 
sect,  which  is,  by  all  odds,  the  predominating 
sect  of  Islam.  This  is  the  orthodox  sect  and 
numbers  some  221,000,000  followers.  Then 
there  is  the  Shiah  sect,  chiefly  in  Persia  and 
India,  and  claiming  12,000,000  followers; 
these  are  regarded  as  heretics  by  the  Sunnis, 
and  their  mutual  hatred  "  is  more  bitter  than 
between  Protestant  and  Catholic  in  the  days  of 
persecution."  It  was  the  Sunni  sect  that  domi- 
nated Egypt  from  640  to  969  A.D.  During 
the  power  of  the  Fatimite  caliphs,  the  Shiah 
faith  ruled  in  the  palace,  but  not  altogether  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  there  were  fre- 
quent religious  riots.     Since  the  days  of  Sala- 


120     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

din,  however,  Egypt  has  been  reckoned  as  a 
stronghold  of  the  Siinni  faith. 

The  Siinni  sect  is  subdivided  into  four  lead- 
ing schools  of  theology  and  jurisprudence, 
called  *  the  Hanafiyah,  the  Shafeiyah,  the 
Malakiyah,  and  the  Hambaliyah.  The  Mos- 
lems of  Egypt  are,  for  the  most  part,  Shafc- 
'iyahs. 

Mohammedanism  has,  on  its  doctrinal  side, 
six  articles  of  faith,  and,  on  its  practical  side, 
some  six  duties  or  obligations;  the  former  are 
called  Iman,  the  latter  Din. 

The  six  articles  of  faith  are: 
cv,nception  (^-^-^  j'he  Moslcm  Conception  of  God.  The 
first  part  of  the  Mohammedan  creed  is,  "  There 
is  no  God  but  God."  The  unity  of  God  is 
asserted.  This  insistence  upon  the  unity  of  God 
is  in  denial  not  only  of  polytheism,  but  espe- 
cially of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 
The  spirituality  of  God  is  also  asserted.  The 
Moslem  cannot  tolerate  pictures  or  images  of 
the  Deity.  Islam  seems  to  assert  a  personal 
God.  When  we  consider  the  attributes  of  the 
God  of  Islam,  we  discover,  however,  that  the 
Divine  Personality  has  become  so  distorted 
that  true  personality  is  practically  lost.  "  The 
conception    of    God     is    negative.       Absolute 

*  These  names  are  Anglicized  into  Hanafite,  Shafite,    Mala- 
kite,  and  Hanbalite, 


Religions  121 

sovereignty  and  ruthless  omnipotence  are  His 
chief  attributes,  while  His  character  is  imper- 
sonal, that  of  a  Monad.  The  Christian  truth 
that  '  God  is  love  '  is  to  the  learned  Moslem 
blasphemy  and  to  the  ignorant  an  enigma. 
Islam  is  '  the  Pantheism  of  Force.'  "*  Although 
ninety-nine  names  are  ascribed  to  God,  He  is 
never  called  "  Father."  Nor  has  He  a  Father's 
heart.  The  term  "  holy  "  is  applied  to  God, 
but  with  reference  to  His  glory  and  majesty, 
rather  than  to  His  moral  perfection.  Indeed, 
the  exaggeration  of  His  sovereignty  .ascribes 
to  Him  acts  which  our  moral  instincts  repudiate. 

(2)  Angels.  Moslems  believe  in  angels,  of  a  Anse'" 
substance  resembling  light,  and  endowed  with 
life,  speech  and  reason.  There  are  four  arch- 
angels :  Gabriel,  who  reveals  truth ;  Michael, 
the  patron  of  the  Jews ;  Israf el,  who  will  sound 
the  last  trump ;  and  Azrail,  the  angel  of  death. 
There  are  two  recording  angels  for  each  per- 
son, the  one  for  his  good  deeds,  the  other  for  his 
evil  deeds.  Two  angels,  Munkar  and  Nakir, 
examine  the  dead  and  beat  infidels.  The  chief 
angel  of  the  place  of  torment  is  Malik;  he  has 
nineteen  assistants.  Eight  angels  support  the 
throne  of  Allah. 

Besides  these  angels,  there  are  jinn,  or  genii ; 
some  good,  some  evil.     These  are  mortal;  they 

*  Religions  of  Miseion  Fields,"  239. 


122     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

marry  and  propagate,  and  are  created  of  fire. 
Thousands  of  superstitious  notions  and  prac- 
tises prevail  in  Egypt,  not  only  among  Moslems, 
bnt  also  among  Copts,  as  a  consequence  of  this 
belief. 
^BoikJ'  <^'')  ^^^^  Inspired  Bools.  Of  the  104  sacred 
books  which  Moslems  believe  God  "  sent  down," 
only  four  are  extant.  These  are,  the  Torah, 
or  Law  of  Moses;  the  Zabur,  or  Psalms  of 
David ;  the  Injil,  or  Gospel  of  Christ ;  and  the 
Koran.  This  theoretical  belief  in  the  Scrip- 
tures is  offset  by  the  common  teaching,  that  the 
Scriptures  have  been  perverted  by  Jews  and 
Christians;  and,  furthermore,  that  the  Koran, 
being  the  later  revelation,  is  more  authorita- 
tive, and  abrogates  the  teachings  of  former  rev- 
elations. 

"  The  Koran  is  a  little  smaller  than  the  New 
Testament  in  extent;  it  has  114  chapters  bear- 
ing fanciful  titles  borrowed  from  some  word  or 
phrasie  in  the  chapter.  The  book  has  no  chrono- 
logical order,  logical  sequence  or  rhetorical 
climax.  It  is  unintelligible  without  a  com- 
mentary, even  for  a  Moslem."  *  Yet  the  Koran 
is  the  standard  of  Arabic  literature  and  the 
center  around  which  Moslem  life  and  thought 
revolve.  Slavery,  polygamy,  divorce,  religious 
intolerance,  and  the  seclusion  and  degradation 

*  "Religions  of  Mission  Fields."  241. 


Religions  123 

of  women,  find  their  suggestion  and  defense  in 
the  Koran. 

(4)  The   Prophets.     Mohammed   is   related  ^^^p^**"- 
to  have  said  that  there  were  124,000  prophets 

and  315  apostles.  Six  prophets  occupy  posi- 
tions of  prominence  and  are  given  titles :  Adam, 
the  chosen  of  God ;  ISToah,  the  preacher  of  God ; 
Abraham,  the  friend  of  God ;  Moses,  the  spokes- 
man of  God ;  Jesus,  the  word  of  God ;  and  Mo- 
hammed, the  apostle  of  God.  The  greatest  of 
all,  of  course,  is  Mohammed.  To  describe  his 
character  and  trace  his  influence  upon  the  re- 
ligion he  founded,  would  require  several  chap- 
ters. We  may  credit  him  with  sincerity  and 
many  good  traits  during  the  early  years  of  his 
career,  "  yet  a  calm  and  critical  study  of  his 
life  proves  him  to  have  been  an  ambitious  and 
sensual  enthusiast,  who  did  not  scruple  to 
break  every  precept  of  the  moral  law  to  further 
his  ends." 

(5)  The  Daij  of  Judgment.     This   is   also  ^H^^^^ 
known  as  the  Day  of  Eesurrection,  the  Day  of 
Separation,  the  Day  of  Reckoning,  the  Day  of 
Awakening,  and  the  Hour.     There  is  to  be  a 
resurrection,  when  the  body  and  the  soul  will 

be  united.  To  this  end,  a  part  of  the  body,  the 
OS  sacrum,  is  preserved,  and  out  of  it  is  de- 
veloped the  body  of  the  future  state. 

"  Mankind  in  the  judgment  will  be  in  three 


124    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

classes — those  going  on  foot,  those  riding  and 
those  creeping.  The  first  is  composed  of  those 
whose  good  deeds  were  few,  and  the  second,  those 
who  are  in  great  honor  with  God,  and  the  third, 
the  infidels,  who  will  then  be  blind,  deaf  and 
dumb."  * 

"  The  Moslem  paradise,  in  the  words  of  the 
Koran,  is  '  a  garden  of  delight  ....  with 
conches  and  ewers  and  a  cup  of  flowing  wine; 
their  brows  ache  not  from  it,  nor  fails  the  sense ; 
theirs  shall  be  the  Houris  ....  ever  vir- 
gins.' What  commentators  say  on  these  texts  is 
often  unfit  for  translation.  The  orthodox  inter- 
pretation is  literal,  and  so  was  that  of  Moham- 
med." t  The  Moslem  hell  is  described  in  great 
detail,  setting  forth  the  terrors  of  the  lost. 
Fatalism.  (-g^  y/^g  Decrees  of  Ood.  Predestination  is 
a  fundamental  Moslem  doctrine.  Submission 
to  these  divine  decrees  constituted  religion; 
Islam  means  resignation.  Among  the  reputed 
teachings  of  Mohammed  is  this,  "  The  first 
thing  that  God  created  was  a  pen,  and  He  said 
to  it,  '  Write.'  It  said,  '  What  shall  I  write? ' 
God  said,  'Write  down  the  quantity  of  every 
individual  thing  to  be  created,'  and  it  wrote 
all  that  has  been  and  all  that  will  be  to  eter- 
nity."   In  Egypt,  the  common  belief  approaches 

*  "  Religions  of  Mission  Fields,"  244. 
t  A.  Watson,  "  American  Mission  in  Egpyt,"  44. 


Religions  125 

fatalism.  !Not  only  are  events  explained  by  this 
doctrine,  but  it  paralyzes  progress  and  is  made 
the  excuse  for  sin  committed. 

The  most  important  duties  and  obligations  of 
the  Moslem  religion  are: 

(1)  The  Recital  of  the  Creed.     The  Moslem  Moslem 

Creed. 

creed  is  the  shortest  in  the  world.  In  Arabic 
it  runs,  "La  ilaha  ilia  'llahu:  Muhammadun 
Rasalu  'llah."  Translated  it  reads,  "  There 
is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  the 
Apostle  of  God."  To  formally  and  religiously 
repeat  this  creed  is  the  initiatory  ordinance  of 
the  Moslem  system,  as  baptism  is  the  initiatory 
ordinance  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  creed 
is  repeated  at  all  times.  It  is  the  call  to  prayer. 
You  hear  it  in  public  processions,  in  the  funeral 
chants,  in  the  transactions  of  the  market  place, 
as  the  song  of  rowers  on  the  Nile,  and  as  the 
fierce  battle  cry. 

(2)  Prmjer.     "The  five  stated  seasons  for ^'^y**"- 
prayers  every  day  are,  the  early  daAvn  of  the 
morning,  when  the  sun  has  just  begun  to  de- 
cline at  noon,  in  the  middle  of  the  afternoon, 
immediately  after  sunset,  and  an  hour  and  a 

half  after  sunset.  The  greater  number  of  Mos- 
lems do  not,  however,  observe  all  these  times, 
prayer  at  the  early  dawn  being  often  omitted 
by  many  who  observe  the  other  stated  hourd. 
Many  also  seldom  pray  at  all,  unless  it  may  be 
10 


Month  of 
Faeting. 


126    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

during  the  month  of  fasting,  when  it  is  most 
generally  observed  by  men.  ]^ot  many  women 
ever  pray.  Prayer,  with  the  Moslem,  is  for 
the  most  part  mere  repetition  of  the  first  chap- 
ter of  the  Koran  and  other  passages  from  their 
Scriptures;  and  that,  too,  in  a  fixed  order,  and 
with  certain  bodily  inflexions  and  movements 
corresponding  to  the  passages  repeated.  No 
deviation  from  the  prescribed  order  of  bodily 
movements  is  allowed.  Prayer  must  be  pre- 
ceded by  ablution  in  water,  if  possible,  other- 
wise with  clean  sand.  The  hands,  feet,  face, 
mouth,  and  nostrils  are  carefully  washed,"  * 

In  all  this,  however,  the  true  spirit  of  prayer 
is  absent.  "  Prayer  is  reduced  to  a  mechani- 
cal art."  There  is  no  real  fellowship  with  God. 
There  is  no  communion  with  God,  in  the  Chris- 
tian sense.  The  Moslem  conception  of  God 
itself  forbids  this. 

(3)  The  Month  of  Fasting.  Fasting  during 
the  month  of  Ramadan  is  regarded  as  the  ground 
of  great  merit.  As  the  Moslem  year  is  based 
iipon  the  lunar  month,  this  month  of  Kamadan 
comes  earlier  each  year.  When  it  falls  in  the 
summer,  the  observance  of  the  fast  is  a  great 
hardship.  It  is  unlawful  to  eat,  drink  or  smoke, 
from  da\^Ti  until  sunset.  During  the  night, 
feasting  is  hoth  allowable  and  the  custom.     It 

*  "Aniprican  Mis  ion  in  Egypt,"  46,  47. 


Religions  127 

is  a  fact,  that  Moslems,  both  rich  and  poor, 
spend  more  for  food  in  that  month  than  in  any 
other  month  of  the  year.  It  has  been  noticed 
that  fasting,  especially  in  hot  weather,  reacts 
upon  the  good  nature  of  the  Moslem,  and  leads 
to  more  friction  and  quarreling  than  usual. 

(4)  The  Giving  of  Alms.  This  is  highly  ^^""«' 
praised  in  the  Koran.  One-fortieth  of  the  total 
income  is  said  to  be  the  commonly  accepted  pro- 
portion for  giving.  "  There  are  seven  classes  to 
whom  this  legal  alms  may  be  given,  viz.,  the 
poor,  the  homeless,  the  tax-collector,  slaves, 
debtors,   those  engaged   in   fighting  for   Islam, 

and  wayfaring  travelers."  Although  alms-giv- 
ing is  a  religious  duty,  Moslem  civilization  has 
developed  practically  no  public  institutions  of 
charity. 

(5)  The    Pilgrimage.      The    pilgrimage    to  Pilgrimage. 
Mecca  is  obligatory  on  all  Moslems  who  are  not 
hindered    by    ill-health,     slavery    or    poverty. 

Many  engage  and  provide  for  a  substitute  and 
thus  acquire  merit  for  tliemselves.  From  sixty 
to  ninety  thousand  pilgrims  are  reported  to  visit 
Mecca  each  year.  This  annual  rally  at  Mecca 
constitutes  a  powerful  bond  of  union  and  main- 
tains throughout  the  Moslem  world  a  sense  of 
solidarity.  There  are  many  detailed  injunc- 
tions which  are  to  be  observed  by  pilgrims,  both 
as  to  dress  and  as  to  food.    Burckhardt,  Burton 


128     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

and  other  travelers  who  have  visited  the  sacred 
cities  of  Islam  at  the  risk  of  their  lives,  have 
given  to  us  descriptions  of  the  customs  and  con- 
ditions which  prevail.  "  It  is  necessary  to  state 
that  the  two  sacred  cities  of  Islam  are  hotbeds 
of  every  form  of  immorality  and,  by  the  wit- 
ness of  Moslems  themselves,  sink-holes  of 
iniquity  and  dens  of  robbers." 

To  this  outline  of  the  doctrines  and  practices 
of  the  Mohammedan  religion,  there  ought  to  be 
added  some  account  of  the  practical  outwork- 
ings  of  Islam  in  individual  and  social  life. 
This,  however,  has  been  done  in  a  previous 
chapter,  where  the  seclusion  of  woman,  the  prac- 
tice of  polygamy  and  divorce,  the  illiteracy  of 
the  people  of  Egypt,  and  the  utterly  unscien- 
tific character  of  Moslem  education,  were  dis- 
cussed. Slavery  was  abolished  in  Egypt  before 
the  British  occupation,  but  under  pressure  of 
public  opinion  in  Europe.  Slavery  has  its  roots 
in  the  Mohammedan  system,  and  history  testi- 
fies to  the  fact  that  the  slave  trade  is  essentially 
related  to  Moslem  polygamy,  and  that  its  agents 
are  almost  invariably  Moslems.  ' 

Missionary       Qj^g  characteristic  of  Islam  deserves  special 

Spirit.  .  T      .       .  •      •  .    •  nr    1 

mention,  it  is  its  missionary  spirit.  Mohaia- 
med  set  before  his  followers  the  vision  of  a 
world-wide  kingdom,  and  the  Koran  lays  upon 
Moslems  the  obligation  to  "  fight  against  infidels 


Religions  129 

till  strife  be  at  an  end  and  the  religion  be  all 
of  God."  Jihad,  religious  warfare,  has  always 
been  the  secret  of  the  spread  of  Islam.  Unliko 
the  Christian  missionary  enterprise,  the  wea- 
pons to  be  used  are  not  loving  persuasion  and 
a  gospel  of  peace,  but  the  sword.  "  The  sword 
has  been  the  great  means  of  propagating  this 
religion.  Until  Mohammed  appealed  to  the 
sword,  his  faith  made  very  little  way."  But 
laying  this  difference  aside,  Islam  may  well 
remind  us  by  its  spiritual  conquest  of  232,000,- 
000  of  the  world's  population,  that  to  the  pos- 
session of  truth  there  must  be  added  an  undying 
zeal  to  propagate  the  truth,  if  any  religion  is  to 
achieve  world  conquest.  Christianity  will 
never  realize  in  the  world  the  power  its  Founder 
intended  it  to  possess,  until  in  accepting  the 
privileges  of  Christianity  every  believer  recog- 
nizes also  his  obligation  to  obey  Christ's  mis- 
sionary commission,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature." 


First 
Efforts. 


CHAPTER   V 

EAELY    MISSIONARY    EFFORTS 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  to  what  extent 
those  who  knew  the  true  God  in  the  centuries 
before  Christ  endeavored  to  impart  that  knowl- 
edge unto  others.  Every  child  of  God  ought 
to  have  in  him  the  spirit  of  Him  "  Who  had  but 
one  Son,  and  He  was  a  missionary."  Did 
Abraham's  visit  to  Egypt  serve  any  missionary 
purpose?  Did  Jacob's?  Did  the  sojourn  of 
the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt  result  in  any 
helpful  presentation  of  divine  truth  to  the  people 
of  the  land  ?  Did  the  continuous  removals  of 
Jews  to  Egypt,  in  later  years,  signify  anything 
in  the  spiritual  history  of  the  country? 

The  entrance  of  Christianity  into  Egypt  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Era  through  the 
preaching  of  John  Mark,  or  other  early  mis- 
sionaries, has  already  been  referred  to.  The 
spread  of  Christianity  throughout  the  entire 
country  is  an  inspiring  proof  of  the  conquering 
power  of  a  missionary  gospel.  The  subsequent 
decadence  of  the  faith,  and  its  almost  entire 
displacement  by  Mohammedanism,  teach  us 
sober  and  needful  lessons  on  the  imperative 
necessity  of  safeguarding  not  only  doctrine,  but 
130 


Early  Missionary  Efforts  131 

a  pure  spiritual  life  and  an  earnest  missionary 
spirit  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  lest  her  "  candle- 
stick "  be  removed  out  of  its  place. 

After  this  almost  complete  religious  lapse  of 
Eg3'pt  from  Christianity,  we  find,  in  modern 
times,  two  missionary  efforts  deserving  of  men- 
tion, even  though  their  continuity  was  broken, 
and  each  effort  ended  in  an  abandonment  of  the 
work.  The  one  was  the  Moravian  effort,  which 
had  its  beginning  in  1752  and  lasted  for  thirty 
years;  the  other  was  the  effort  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  initiated  about  1819  and 
lasting  for  some  three  and  a  half  decades. 

The    Moravians 

By  the  birth  of  Zinzendorf  in  1700,  God  was  zinzendorf. 
preparing  to  launch  one  of  the  purest  spiritual 
and  most  devoted  missionary  movements  that 
the  world  has  known.  And  Zinzendorf's  life, 
from  its  very  beginning,  ran  true  to  the  divine 
purpose,  apparently  without  any  wasteful 
digression  into  sin.  At  six  weeks  of  age,  he  was 
taken  into  the  arms  of  his  dying  father  and  con- 
secrated to  the  service  of  Christ.  "Already  in 
my  childhood,"  wrote  Zinzendorf,  "  I  loved  the 
Saviour  and  had  abundant  intercourse  with  Him. 
In  my  fourth  year,  I  began  to  seek  God  earn- 
estly and  determined  to  become  a  true  servant 


132    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

of  Jesus  Christ."  Even  as  a  boy  at  school  we 
find  him  founding  the  "  Order  of  the  Mustard 
Seed,"  whose  members  agreed:  (1)  to  be  kind 
to  all  men;  (2)  to  seek  their  welfare;  (3)  to 
seek  to  lead  them  to  God  and  to  Christ.  Each 
member  wore  a  ring,  bearing  the  motto,  "  JS'o 
man  liveth  imto  himself."  Before  he  left 
school,  we  read  that  "  he  entered  with  an  inti- 
mate friend  into  a  covenant  for  the  conversion 
of  the  heathen,  especially  such  as  would  not  be 
cared  for  by  others."  It  was  tliis  man,  wliose 
life  witnessed  thoroughly  to  the  exclamation  of 
his  lips,  "  I  have  but  one  passion — 'tis  He, 
and  He  only," — it  was  this  man,  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf,  who  was  used  of  God  to  set  in  motion 
missionary  impulses  which  have  been  felt 
throughout  the  world,  part  of  which  enter  also 
into  the  narrative  of  missionary  work  in  Egypt. 
It  was  in  1750  that  missions  to  Egypt  were 
Hocker.  decided  upon.  It  v/as  the  knowledge  of  the 
existence  in  Egypt,  and  especially  in  Abyssinia, 
of  a  Christian  Church,  to  whom  the  helpful  hand 
of  sympathy  and  fellowship  might  be  extended, 
that  led  to  this  undertaking.  In  1752,  Fred- 
eric William  Hocker,  M.D.,  arrived  in  Egypt, 
commissioned  to  remain  in  Cairo  for  a  time, 
for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  some  knowledge  of 
the  Arabic  language  and  preparing  for  the  far- 
ther and  more  difficult  journey  to  Abyssinia. 


Frederick 
WiHiam 


Early  Missionary  Efforts  133 

The  missionary  records  of  the  Moravian  breth- 
ren show  that  the  Egypt  of  that  time  was  quite 
different  from  the  Egypt  of  to-day,  as  to  conven- 
ience of  travel,  security  of  life  and  property,  and 
religious  liberty.  The  journey  from  Alexandria 
to  Cairo  involved  a  two-davs'  ride  alous;  the 
sandy  shore  from  Alexandria  to  Eosetta,  then  a 
journey  by  open  boat  up  the  river  to  Cairo,  re- 
quiring two  days  more.  Dr.  Hocker  was  also 
required  to  don  a  sort  of  Turkish  dress — loose 
red  trousers,  yellow  slippers,  a  flowing  robe, 
and  a  great  fur  cap.  "  Thus  accoutred,"  he 
says,  "  I  rode  into  the  city  of  Grand  Cairo  upon 
an  ass.  All  this  is  prescribed  by  positive  law; 
none  but  Mohammedans  are  allowed  to  ride  on 
horseback,  and  they  too,  as  well  as  the  Jews  and 
Christians,  are  subject  to  particular  regula- 
tions    In   order   to   prevent   or   to 

punish  any  irregularity  in  these^  respects,  the 
streets  are  constantly  patrolled  by  a  band  of 
from  twenty  to  thirty  Janissaries;  and  every 
offence  is  summarily  visited  with  stripes,  or 
even  with  loss  of  life." 

Soon  after  arriving  in  Cairo,  Dr.  Hocker  Begi 
rented  a  home,  which  another  missionary  de-  toTrork 
scribed  as  "  small,  exposed  to  the  noise  of  the 
streets,  and  in  so  bad  repair  that  the  dust  enters 
at  all  crevices."  Here,  however,  he  pursued  the 
study  of  the  Arabic  language,  practised  medi- 


nning 


134     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

cine,  and  labored  to  gather  all  possible  informa- 
tion that  might  be  of  service  to  him  in  the  pro- 
posed journey  to  Abyssinia.  This  entry  casts 
a  flood  of  light  upon  this  devoted  missionary's 
spiritual  life  during  these  lonely  months  and 
years.  '*  Of  spiritual  intercourse  with  such  as 
I  could  consider  Brethren  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  T 
was  altogether  deprived,  a  loss  which  could  only 
be  made  up  by  coimnunion  with  my  Saviour. 
With  Him  I  sought  comfort,  the  revival  of  my 
faith,  and  power  to  follow  Him  withersoever 
He  might  lead  me.  He  graciously  heard  my 
prayer,  gave  me  to  feel  His  peace,  and  enabled 
me,  through  the  merits  of  His  early  exile  in  this 
very  land,  to  feel  myself  at  home  among  its 
inhabitants." 

After  a  whole  year  of  patient  study  of  the 
Arabic  language,  he  ventured  to  present  him- 
self, with  the  letter  which  had  been  given  to 
him  by  Count  Ziuzendorf,  to  the  Coptic  Patri- 
arch, who  received  him  in  a  very  kindly  way. 
In  December,  1753,  Dr.  Hocker  went  to  Con- 
stantinople to  secure  such  credentials  as  seemed 
necessary  to  enable  him  to  enter  Abyssinia.  A 
year  later,  he  was  back  again  in  Cairo.  In 
1756,  George  Pilder,  another  Moravian  mis- 
sionary, joined  Dr.  Hocker  in  Cairo.  Henry 
Cossart,  who  joined  the  mission  in  the  following 


Early  Missionary  Efforts  135 

year,  does  not  seem  to  have  continued  for  any 
length  of  time. 

In  1758,  Hocker  and  Pilder  started  upon  the  to 
long-contemplated  journey  to  Abyssinia.  They  Abyssinia, 
sailed  from  vSuez,  itself  a  three-days'  journey 
from  Cairo.  After  sailing  southward  for 
eleven  days,  they  suffered  shipwreck  and  spent 
nineteen  days  c^  a  desert  island.  They  got 
away,  after  having  been  "  in  perils  of  robbers, 
in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  among  false 
brethren,  in  labor  and  travail,  in  watchings  of- 
ten, in  hunger  and  thirst."  Having  lost  prac- 
tically their  entire  outfit,  they  decided,  after 
further  trials  at  Yembo  and  Jeddah,  that  they 
should  return  to  Egypt.  Their  journey  from 
Kosseir  on  the  Red  Sea  overland  to  Kena  on  the 
!N^ile,  and  their  experiences  with  pirates  on  the 
river,  are  a  sufficient  commentary  upon  the  con- 
dition of  the  country  and  the  devotion  of  these 
early  missionaries. 

This  effort  to  reach  Abyssinia  left  Pilder  a 
physical  wreck.  On  his  return  to  Cairo  in 
1759,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  country, 
and  Dr.  Hocker  was  again  the  only  missionary 
in  the  country.  In  1861,  he  also  left  Egypt  for 
Europe,  so  that  for  seven  years  all  missionary 
work  was  suspended. 

In    17G8,   we   meet   with    another   Moravian  ^ 

.      .  '  1  TT  T-w       1  •  Beautiful 

missionary,   John  Henry   Danke,   who   arrives  character. 


A  Formal 
Religion. 


136    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

in  Egypt  with  Dr  Hocker.  His  was  a  rare  and 
beautiful  Christian  character.  His  love  for 
men  shines  out  in  his  diary:  "  Sailing  on  the 
Nile  between  Rosetta  and  Cairo,  I  often  shed 
tears  of  compassion  to  see  them  (the  Moslems) 
lounging  in  the  fields ;  others  washing  them- 
selves in  the  Nile,  and  praying  on  the  shore. 
Often  did  I  sigh,  '  Oh  Lord  Jesus !  let  their 
souls  be  washed  in  Thy  j^rccious  blood,  which 
Thou  hast  shed  for  them  also !'  "  In  another 
place,  he  writes,  "  Speaking  farther  of  the  love 
of  Jesus,  my  heart  grew  warm,  and  I  could  not 
refrain  from  shedding  tears."  Was  it  any  won- 
der that  on  this  last  occasion,  the  priest  who 
was  present,  exclaimed,  "Oh,  dear  friends,  what 
words  do  we  hear !"  and  that  the  priest's  wife 
took  him  by  the  hand  and  exclaimed,  "Master, 
stay  with  us;  God  give  us  grace  to  follow  your 
Avords." 

Danke's  chief  work  seems  to  have  been  among 
the  Copts  of  Behnessa.  He  was  sorely  tried  by 
the  formality  of  their  religion.  They  put  to 
him  many  questions.  "Among  others,"  he 
writes,  "  they  asked,  '  Do  you,  at  infant  bap- 
tism, make  use  of  frankincense,  myrrh,  and  oil  ? ' 
*  How  often  are  the  vessels,  used  at  the  Holy 
Communion,  carried  about  among  the  people  ?  ' 
'  Do  you  perform  Mass  and  sacrifice  as  often  as 
you  go  to  church  ? '  '  Do  your  priests,  whenever 


Early  Missionary  Efforts         137 

they  meet  any  person  in  the  church,  put  their 
hands  upon  them,  and  impart  absolution  ? ' 
'  Does  every  one  of  you  pray  Kyrie  eleison  * 
200  times  ? '  'At  every  prayer,  how  often  do 
you  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  ? '  '  Do  you 
fast  two  days  every  week  ? '  '  Do  you  worship 
all  the  saints  ? '  "  His  tact  and  skill  in  avoid- 
ing useless  discussion  is  then  seen,  for  he  adds, 
"  The  Lord  gave  me  grace  to  hear  and  answer 
them  patiently.  I  then  said,  '  You  have  put  a 
great  variety  of  questions  to  me.  Permit  me 
now  to  ask  you  in  turn:  Have  you  never  read, 
that,  in  Christ  Jesus,  nothing  availeth  but  a 
new  creature  ?  .  .  .  You  have  at  least  read,  that 
Jesus  alone  is  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.' 
'  Yes,'  said  they,  '  we  have.'  '  Then,'  I  added, 
'  let  us  first  of  all  treat  of  this  subject.'  " 

His  labors  were  not  in  vain.      Many  were  Resu^^  of 

•    •         1  1  •  I*         1  a  Life. 

brought  to  a  spiritual  apprehension  of  salva- 
tion through  Christ.  Of  two,  he  writes,  "  What 
I  told  them  of  the  happiness  of  those  who  live 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  love  of  Jesus,  seemed 
to  penetrate  their  hearts.  Both  arose,  fell  about 
my  neck,  and  said,  with  tears  in  their  eyes, 
'  God  bless  you,  ]\Iaster ;  we  never  heard  the 
like  before.'  "  Among  those  whose  lives  were 
quickened,  we  note  a  man  of  considerable  in- 
fluence, Mikhail  Bisha-ra,  the  chief  justice  of 

*  "  Lord,  have  mercv  on  us." 


138     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

the  village,  and  both  secretary  and  tax-gatherer 
of  'Ali  Bey.  At  other  times  again,  Danke  met 
with  open  criticism,  "  Why  you  are  no  Chris- 
tian ;  for  you  do  not  fast  in  your  country.  Are 
you  come  among  us  to  abolish  our  fasts  ? " 
Criticism  often  developed  into  opposition  and 
persecution,  for,  to  lift  men  out  of  the  deadness 
of  Christian  formality,  is  a  real  attack  upon  the 
powers  of  darkness,  and  these  forces  will  be 
marshaled  to  prevent  any  loss  of  territory.  On 
the  other  hand  again,  the  purity  of  Danke's 
teachings  appealed  to  others  farther  removed 
from  the  Christian  faith.  A  Moslem  sheikh 
to  whom  he  had  spoken,  *'  listened  with  visible 
satisfaction,  and  then  said,  '  Such  Christians  as 
you,  are  sure  to  get  to  heaven ;  but  full  as  sure 
will  the  Copts  go  to  hell  with  all  their  fasting; 
because  t4iey  hope  to  deceive  God  by  it.  When 
they  fast,  they  eat  bread,  lentiies.  beans,  oil,  and 
the  like ;  when  they  do  not  fast,  they  eat  butter, 
beef,  and  mutton,  as  though  it  were  not  the 
same  Creator  that  had  made  all  these  things.'  " 

In  July,  1772,  Danke  left  his  field  of  work 
in  and  about  Behnessa  and  went  down  to  Cairo 
quite  ill.  In  October,  he  passed  into  the  pre- 
sence of  his  Lord,  having  had,  like  Him,  a  brief 
ministry  of  but  three  years. 

Of  John  Antes,  who  joined  the  Mission  in 
1770,    and   of   George   Henry   Wieniger,    who 


Early  Missionary  Efforts  139 

joined  it  in  1774,  we  cannot  speak  at  length. 
Both  labored  in  the  field  to  which  Danke  had 
been  assigned.  Antes  endured  severe  and  un- 
just bastinadoing  once  at  the  hands  of  one  of 
the  mameluke  heys.^  For  six  weeks  he  was  con- 
fined to  his  bed  as  a  result  of  this  beating,  but 
his  diary  records  no  murmuring,  only  the  pre- 
cious comfort  which  he  got  from  Romans  8  :38, 
39.  Of  Wieniger,  we  know  that  he  knew  how 
to  win  the  heai'ts  of  men,  for  whenever  he  would 
leave  Behnessa  for  Cairo,  upwards  of  two  hun- 
dred people  would  follow  him  a  considerable 
distance.  He  gives  the  following  interesting 
account  of  conversation  with  a  secret  disciple, 
a  Moslem  of  high  rank : 

"  We  were  once  walking  in  a  large  garden  on  <*"«  "''" 
tlie    banks    of    the    Nile,    when    we    met    the  jesns 
proprietor,  a  man  of  high  rank,  who  accosted  us  Christ, 
in  a  very  friendly  manner  and  asked  us  whether 
we  were  all  brethren,  and  whether  we  had  the 
same  religion.     On  our  replying  in  the  affirma- 
tive, he  turned  to  me  and  said :    '  Why  do  you 
wear  a  beard,  whereas  your  brethren  do  not? 
You  must  be  a  priest.'     He  would  not  believe 
me  when  I  told  him  it  was  merely  a  matter  of 
convenience,  but  replied:    'You  are  a  priest; 
do  not  detain  my  soul.     I  have  prayed  to  Al- 
mighty God  to  make  me  acquainted- with  a  man 

*  Eelated  in  A.  Watson's  "  American  Mission  in  Egypt,"  23-28. 


140    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

who  could  tell  me  what  I  must  do  to  be  saved, 
and  I  have  received  the  answer  from  Him  that 
a  man  would  come  into  my  garden  who  would 
satisfy  my  desires  on  the  subject.  You  are  that 
man,  I  am  convinced;  tell  me  frankly  whether 
I  am  right.'  I  inquired :  '  Why  not,  as  you 
are  a  Mohammedan,  consult  the  priests  of  your 
own  religion  ? '  To  this  he  rejoined :  '  I  am 
firmly  convinced  that  we  followers  of  Moham- 
med are  not  in  the  right  way;  there  must  be 
another  way  leading  to  salvation,  and  you  must 
point  it  out  to  me.  I  am  well  aware  that  our 
lives  are  forfeited  if  our  present  conversation 
were  known,  but  you  have  nothing  to  fear;  I 
am  an  honest  man ;  never  a  word  shall  escape  luy 
lips.'  While  making  this  urgent  appeal  to  me, 
he  was  so  deeply  affected  that  I  was  moved  with 
the  deepest  compassion.  '  Well,'  said  I,  '  I  will 
tell  you  what  a  Christian  must  do  to  be  saved.' 
He  then  walked  with  me  under  a  fig  tree  and 
said :  'Come,  O  man  of  God,  here  where  I  have  so 
often  prayed  unto  God ;  you  must  tell  me  what 
I  must  do.'  With  fervent  prayer  unto  the  Lord 
for  His  blessing,  I  related  to  the  benighted  man 
what  God  had  revealed  to  us  in  His  Holy  Word, 
dwelling  at  large  on  the  redemption  which 
Christ  wrought  out  for  us  by  dying  for  our  sins 
on  the  cross.  The  aglia  listened  to  me  with 
much   attention,    and   when   I   told   him   that 


'  .^ 


r^ 

H 

tf 

r^ 

W 

n^ 

> 

;3 

7, 

P. 

O 

i^ 

U 

M 

a 

fl 

^ 

c3 

o 

ll4 

CO 

Early  Missionary  Efforts  141 

Jesus  had  ascended  up  into  Heaven  before  the 
eyes  of  His  disciples,  he  lifted  up  his  hands 
and  exclaimed :  '  O  Jesus,  who  sitteth  on  the 
right  hand  of  God,  have  mercy  upon  me ;  be 
also  my  Saviour.'  This  prayer  he  repeated 
several  times,  with  tears  of  deepest  emotion. 
Our  Saviour  graciously  favored  him  with  the 
assurance  of  pardon,  and  gave  him  a  sense  of 
peace.  He  frequently  exclaimed  with  much 
fervor :  '  Lord  Jesus,  I  see  Thy  wounds.  Thou 
art  also  my  Saviour.'  The  following  morning, 
before  daybreak,  we  were  not  a  little  alarmed 
on  seeing  this  Turkish  nobleman  with  a  numer- 
ous train  before  the  door.  I  hastened  to  meet 
him  and  asked  him  why  he  had  brought  so  many 
people  to  our  house.  He  replied :  '  They  are 
my  mamelukes ;  they  know  nothing;  they  are 
merely  waiting  my  orders  in  the  street.  I 
could  not  resist  the  impulse  which  I  had  to  come 
and  see  you  and  your  brethren,  nor  could  I  sleep 
the  whole  night  for  joy !  '  We  then  had  some 
very  edifying  conversation  with  liira,  and  united 
in  fervent  thanksgiving  to  our  Saviour  for  this 
sicmal  proof  of  His  mercy.  As  long  as  we  re- 
mained in  Egy])t,  the  man  continued  to  approve 
himself  a  consistent  follower  of  Jesus."  * 

In  1782,  the  Synod  at  Herrnhutt  decided  to 
abandon  the  work  in  Egypt.     Antes  was  pre- 

*  "  Memoirs  of  G.  H.  Wieniger,  written  by  himself." 
11 


\  Farewell 
Meeting. 


142     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

sent  at  this  meeting  and  endorsed  the  action,  al- 
though the  reasons  for  it  are  not  altogether  clear. 
Hocker  died  just  before  this,  and  Antes  and 
Wieniger  returned  to  Europe  in  obedience  to 
the  action  of  the  Synod.  Since  the  Moravian 
missionaries  undertook  to  establish  no  ecclesias- 
tical organization,  the  results  of  their  devoted 
labors  are  found  in  tlie  individual  lives  they 
touched  and  quickened.  Of  these,  of  course, 
no  permanent  record  remains,  save  with  Him 
who  can  ever  say  to  His  Church,  "  I  know  thy 
works,  and  thy  toil  and  patience." 

Church  Missionary  Society 

Foremost  among  missionary  societies  stands 
the  Church  Missionary  Society  of  Great 
Britain,  with  an  honorable  history  which  goes 
back  to  1799,  making  it  one  of  the  oldest  mis- 
sionary societies  in  existence;  with  a  record  of 
devoted  service,  whose  concise  narrative  oc- 
cupies three  compact  yet  large  volumes ;  *  with 
missions  in  West  Africa,  Uganda,  Eg^'pt,  India, 
V)hina,  Japan,  South  America,  and  elsewhere, 
making  it  one  of  the  most  extensive  missionary 
agencies  in  the  world ;  with  an  annual  budget  of 
over  'cwo  millions  of  dollars,  making  it  one  of  the 
most  responsible  organizations  of  Christendom. 

*  Eugene  Stock,  "  History  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society." 


Early  Missionary  Efforts  143 

We  go  back  to  the  year  1815,  to  the  headquarters 
»of  this  Society  in  London,  and  we  find  the  Com- 
'mittee  of  this  Society  hokling  a  farewell  meet- 
ing. Lord  Gamhier  is  in  the  chair.  A  Cam- 
bridge Wrangler  is  receiving  his  official  commis- 
sion from  the  lips  of  Josiah  Pratt,  the  Society's 
Secretary,  for  William  Jowett  is  going  forth  as 
a  missionary.  H.^s,  however,  is  a  peculiar  mis- 
sion. He  is  being  assigned  to  service  in  what 
might  be  called  the  "  Intelligence  Department 
of  the  Army,"  for  interest  has  been  awakened 
in  the  degraded  Oriv-^.ntal  chnrches,  and  the 
Society  wishes  to  know  abont  these  that  it  may 
cooperate  with  them  for  their  spiritual  quicken- 
ing. ''The  Classic,  the  Painter,  the  Statuary, 
the  Antiquarian,  the  Xaturalist,  the  Merchant, 
the  Patriot,  the  Soldier,  all,"  declares  the  Sec- 
retary in  addressing  Jowett,  "  have  their  re- 
ports ;  but  no  one  details  to  us  the  number  and 
the  character  of  Christians  ....  who  are 
there,  perhaps,  in  retirement,  sighing  over  the 
moral  condition  of  their  co\mtry."  Taking  his 
stand  at  ]\rnlta,  Jowett  is  to  survey  the  re- 
ligious horizon.  lie  is  to  look  at  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  study  the  Greek,  Syrian, 
Coptic,  Abyssinian,  Armenian,  and  Xestorian 
Churches. 

The  hopeful  views  entertained  in  those  days  Methods. 
for  the  quickening  of  these  Oriental  Churches 


144     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

were  reflected  in  the  address  of  Secretary  Pratt 
to  Jowett.  The  latter  was  commissioned  to 
notice  the  Roman  Church,  "  her  condition,  any 

favorable    indications to    ascertain 

the  best  means  of  restoring  her  to  primitive 
health  and  vigour."  Greater  hope  still  was  ex- 
pressed for  the  other  Churches.  "'  The  Greek, 
Armenian,  Syrian,  Coptic,  and  Abyssinian 
Churches,  though  in  many  points  far  gone  from 
the  simplicity  and  purity  of  the  truth,  are  not 
so  enibngled ;  and  also  possess  within  themselves 
the  principle  and  the  means  of  reformation.'* 
c.  M.  s,   'j'liose  views  determined  the  character  of  the 

3Ietuoas. 

missionary  efforts  put  forth  by  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  Egypt  during  this  period. 
The  C.  M.  S.  missionaries  labored,  therefore, 
chiefly  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  Coptic 
clergy,  and  restricted  *'  their  operations  to  the 
carrying  forward  of  such  schemes,  chiefly  edu- 
cational, as  should  be  approved  by  the  patriarchs 
and  the  bishops  of  the  sect.  They  hoped  that 
the  missionaries  would  thus  reform  the  clergy, 
and  that  the  clergy  would  then  reform  the 
Church."  Thirty-five  years  later,  Bishop 
Gobat,  a  C.  M.  S.  missionary  to  Egypt,  wrote: 
"  The  missionaries  seem  to  follow  almost  too 
strictly  the  plan  on  which  the  mission  was  be- 
gun, to  seek  the  friendship  of  the  clergy, 
especially   the   higher   clergy   of   the   Eastern 


Early  Missionary  Efforts  145 

Churches,  with  a  view  to  influencing  them 
gently,  in  the  hope  that  by  slow  degrees  they 
would  become  convinced  of  their  errors  and 
themselves  reform  their  respective  Churches. 
But  the  system  has  failed,  and  I  am  convinced 
that  it  will  ever  fail  with  the  several  Eastern 
Churches,  as  well  as  with  the  Church  of  Kome. 
Individual  conversions  must  be  the  aim,  as  the 
only  means  of  prosecuting  reformation." 

"Among  other  places  visited  by  Mr.  Jowett 
was  Egypt.  He  was  there  for  some  months  in 
1819,  and  in  1820,  and  again  in  1823,  and  had 
much  intercourse  with  the  priests  and  monks 
of  the  Coptic  Church,  the  Patriarch  giving  him 
letters  of  introduction  to  several  of  the  convents, 
and  he  distributed  many  copies  of  the  Arabic 
Scriptures.  One  of  the  most  striking  results 
of  his  visits  was  the  purchase  of  a  remarkable 
manuscript  translation  of  the  Bible  in  Amharic, 
the  vernacular  language  of  Abyssinia.  This 
translation  had  been  made  a  few  years  before 
by  the  French  consul  at  Cairo,  M.  Asselin  de 
Cherville,  assisted  by  an  aged  Abyssinian  monk, 
named  Abu  Kumi.  The  manuscript  consisted 
of  no  less  than  9,539  pages,  the  whole  written 
out  by  Abu  Rumi  in  the  Amharic  character.  It 
was  purchased  by  Mr.  Jowett  for  the  Bible 
Society;  and  portions  of  it  were  printed,  many 
thousands  of  copies  of  which  were  afterwards 


146     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

circulated  by  Gobat,  Kraff,  and  other  Church 
Missionary  Society  missionaries  in  Abyssinia. 
The  revision  of  this  version  for  the  Bible  Society 
was  one  of  the  tasks  of  Kraff's  old  age,  and  it 
was  finished  only  three  years  ago,  (i.e.,  in 
1879),  and  printed  at  the  St.  Chrischona  Mis- 
sion Press,  near  Basle. 

"At  the  close  of  1825,  five  missionaries  were 
sent  by  the  Society  to  Egypt.  These  were 
Samuel  Gobat  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Jeru- 
salem), J.  R.  T.  Leider,  Theodore  Muller,  Wil- 
liam Kruse,  and  Christiaii  Ivugler.  All  five 
were  Germans  from  Basle  Seminary.  Gobat 
and  Kugler  afterwards  went  to  Abyssinia;  the 
rest  traveled  up  and  down  Egypt,  visiting  the 
Coptic  schools,  distributing  portions  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  making  known  the  true  Gospel. 

"As  in  all  these  Eastern  missions,  the 
Society's  ultimate  object  was  to  reach  the  Mo- 
hammedans, but  the  difiiculties  of  such  a  work 
at  that  time  are  illustrated  by  an  incident  re- 
corded by  Mr.  Gobat:  'A  Turkish  woman  hav- 
ing married  a  Greek,  had  the  mark  of  the  Cross 
made  on  her  arm.  She  was  on  that  account 
arrested,  and  on  confessing  herself  a  Christian, 
was  put  into  a  boat  on  the  Nile,  and  her  clothes 
and  ornaments  having  been  stripped  off  and  her 
hands  tied  behind  her  back,  was  thro\vn  into 
the  river  and  drowned.'  "  * 

*  The  Church  Missionary  Gleaner,  Sept.,  18S2. 


Early  Missionary  Efforts  147 

Both  a  boys'  and  a  girls'  school  were  opened  '''"bi*"'* 
at  Cairo.  In  1834  a  small  chapel  was  erected. 
The  next  year  Muller  retired,  but  Leider  and 
Kruse  continued  the  Mission.  By  1840,  the 
Mission  reported  six  places  in  the  city  where 
religious  services  were  held  among  the  Copts  for 
the  reading  of  God's  Word.  These  meetings 
were  sanctioQed  by  the  Patriarch,  who  remarked 
that  it  was  better  for  his  people  to  meet  to  read 
the  Scriptures  than  to  drink  arak  (brandy)  and 
commit  sin.  A  boarding  school  for  boys, 
opened  in  1835,  was  developed,  in  1842,  into 
a  Thelogical  Seminary  for  the  training  of  the 
Coptic  clergy.  Here,  pure  and  Scriptural 
teaching  was  given,  and  one  of  the  students 
afterwards  became  Archbishop  of  the  Abyssin- 
ian Church.  In  1849,  Bishop  Gobat  visited 
Egypt  and  urged  the  Society  to  reenforce  the 
Mission  and  conduct  the  work  along  lines  more 
aggressive,  and  especially  more  independent  of 
the  Coptic  Church.  Burdened,  however,  with 
other  work,  the  Society  was  unable  to  do  more 
for  Egypt,  and,  in  1852,  even  Kruse  was  trans- 
ferred to  Palestine.  Although  Leider  remained 
at  his  post-  for  many  years,  universally  re- 
spected, and  exercising  a  wholesome  influence 
over  the  Coptic  Patriarch  and  bishops  until  his 
death  from  cholera  in  1865,  the  Mission  had, 
as  the  Gleaner  puts  it,  "  only  a  lingering  exist- 


148     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

ence."  In  1862,  the  Society  took  official  action, 
discontinuing  the  Mission. 
Good  Bishop  Gobat  gave  the  following  estimate  of 
piisiied.  the  work  of  his  Society  in  Egypt:  "Besides 
the  dissemination  of  the  Word  of  God  and  otlier 
good  books  in  all  parts  of  Egypt,  and  the  Scrip- 
tural though  imperfect  education  of  youth,  the 
results  of  the  mission  are  the  conversion  of  a  few 
individuals,  some  of  whom  have  died  in  the 
faith,  a  few  enlightened  young  men  dispersed 
through  Egypt — while  many  members  of  the 
diiferent  communities  have  been  led  to  doubt 
the  truth  of  their  superstitions  and  traditions. 
Yet  upon  the  whole  it  must  be  confessed,  that 
the  Egyptian  Mission  has  not  had  the  success 
which  might  have  been  expected." 

A  more  encouraging  estimate  is  expressed  by 
the  Rev.  Andrew  Watson,  D.D.,  who  arrived  in 
Egypt  in  1861 :  "  I  believe  that  through  the 
circulation  of  copies  of  the  Word  of  God  by 
the  Church  Missionary  Society's  missionaries 
throughout  the  Nile  Valley,  hundreds  of  per- 
sons had  their  knowledge  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion corrected,  their  faith  directed  away  from 
their  own  works,  to  the  death  and  suffering  and 
obedience  of  the  Son  of  God  as  the  reason  and 
ground  of  salvation  from  sin  and  its  conse- 
quences; and  much  good  seed  was  sown,  which 
afterwards  brought  fruit  unto  eternal  life.     In 


Early  Missionary  htlorts       149 

the  great  day  Avhen  all  secrets  shall  be  revealed, 
it  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  be  found  that  our  Mis- 
sion has  in  not  a  few  places  reaped  where  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  formerly  sowed." 

*  A.  Watson,  "  American  Miss.on  in  Egypt,"  34. 


CHAPTER   VI 

UNITED    PEESBYTERIAN     MISSION. 

Throughout  the  Nile  Valley,  from  the  sea- 
board to  the  First  Cataract  and  from  the  First 
Cataract  to  the  Sobat  River,  this  Mission  is 
known;  but  it  is  known  as  "  The  American  Mis- 
sion." And  the  name  is  happily  chosen,  for 
this  Mission  is  the  representative  in  Egypt  not 
merely  of  a  denomination,  but  of  American 
Christendom.  So,  too,  the  Church  which  this 
Mission  has  built  up  is  kno^vn  throughout  the 
Nile.  Valley  as  "  The  Protestant  Church  "  or 
"  The  Evangelical  Church."  Thus  does  the 
solidarity  of  evangelical  Christianity  receive  lia 
proper  emphasis  in  the  face  of  a  corrupt  Chris- 
tianity and  a  united  Moslem  world. 
The       Pqj,  |.j-jg  founding  of  this  Mission,  we  go  back 

Founding  '^  .V 

of  the  to  December,  1854.  In  the  city  of  Cairo,  we 
Mission,  gjj^j  three  Americans,  two  men  and  a  woman. 
They  are  in  a  land  where  life  and  property  are 
none  too  safe ;  a  few  months  before,  the  Khedive 
was  assassinated  in  his  palace.  The  government 
also,  is  hostile  to  Christianity;  for  a  Moslem 
to  become  a  Christian  means  death.  The  people 
are  sunk  in  intellectual  and  spiritual  ignorance ; 
they  are  blinded  by  the  half-truth  of  Islam  or 
150 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        151 

the  superstitions  of  a  formal  Church.  Society 
is  degraded  by  low  standards  of  morality,  and 
doubly  so,  by  the  degradation  of  womanhood. 
Yet  these  three  Americans  are  planning  to  pre- 
sent to  this  nation  a  gospel  of  purity,  of  truth, 
and  of  love.  They  purpose  to  build  up  a  Church 
of  those  who,  forsaking  allegiance  to  the  false 
Prophet  or  the  superstitious  practices  of  a  cor- 
rupt Church,  shall  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  their 
Saviour  and  Lord.  ''Fools!"  some  might  say. 
"  Fanatics !  "  others  did  call  them.  But  they 
were  neither  fools  nor  fanatics.  They  were 
simply  missionaries;  missionaries  according  to 
Miss  Guinness's  definition  of  mssionaries,  "God's 
people,  in  God's  place,  doing  God's  work,  in 
God's  way,  and  for  God's  glory." 

More  than  fifty  years  have  passed,  and  Wf? 
find  in  that  same  Mission  to-day,  a  force  of 
American  workers  approximating  a  hundred,  a 
native  church  membership  of  about  ten  thou- 
sand, while  their  missionary  operations  engage 
hundreds  of  native  workers  and  influence  thou- 
sands of  lives  not  yet  surrendered  to  Christ. 
Some  account  of  this  successful  work  is  to  be 
given  in  this  chapter.  To  compress  the  story 
of  more  than  fifty  years  of  mission  work  into 
less  than  that  number  of  pages,  makes  it  nec- 
essary to  merely  outline  the  history  of  the  Mis- 
sion.    For  this  purpose,  the  fifty  odd  years  with 


Beasons 
Given. 


152     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

which  we  deal  may  be  divided  into  periods, 
which,  if  arbitrary  at  times,  will  nevertheless 
prove  convenient  in  a  general  survey,  such  as  is 
required. 

Years  of  Beginnings     (1854-1864) 

An  initial  question  here  is.  How  came  the 
Mission  to  be  established  in  Egypt?  In  the 
city  of  Allegheny,  in  the  house  of  worship  of  a 
congregation  which,  to-day,  goes  by  the  name  of 
the  First  United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Alle- 
gheny, on  Saturday,  May  21st,  of  the  year  1853, 
at  an  afternoon  session,  a  church  court,  called 
the  General  Synod  of  the  Associate  Eeformed 
Church  of  the  West,  passed  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

"Resolved,  That  our  missionaries  be  instruc- 
ted to  occupy  Cairo  at  their  earliest  conven- 
ience." 

If  we  search  for  the  occasion  for  this  action, 
we  find  it  at  hand  in  a  communication  signed  by 
three  missionaries  of  said  Church  in  Damascus, 
Messrs.  Barnett,  Paulding  and  Frazier,  endors- 
ing a  communicatioin  from  one  of  their  number, 
Dr.  Paulding,  who  had  visited  Egypt  in  search 
of  health,  and  who  was  impressed  with  the  need 
of  establishing  a  mission  there.  The  reasons 
given  by  these  missionaries  in   Syria   for  the 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        153 


establishment  of  a  mission  in  Egypt  werec  (1) 
To  save  to  the  Church  the  services  of  Dr.  Pauld- 
ing, whose  health  permitted  him  to  labor  in 
Egypt,  but  did  not  permit  him  to  labor  in  Syria ; 
(2)  to  afford  relief  from  a  sense  of  limitation 
which  these  Syrian  missiona^ries  were  experi- 
encing in  their  mission  field  at  Damascus;  (3) 
to  open  up  in  Egypt  a  refuge  for  the  mission- 
aries in  Syria,  in  view  of  political  dangers  im- 
pending within  the  Turkish  Empire;  (4)  to 
meet  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  land  of  Egypt. 

Back  of  these  formal  reasons  influencing  the 
Synod  in  its  decision,  the  Hand  of  God  may  be 
clearly  recognized,  guiding  the  Church  by  prov- 
idences, remarkable  both  for  their  number  and 
their  character.  An  invalid  missionary  turns 
to  Egypt  in  his  search  of  health ;  he  finds  the 
country  destitute  through  the  practical  with- 
drawal of  the  agents  of  another  missionary  or- 
ganization. There  is  the  coincidence  of  a  con- 
sciousness among  the  missionaries  in  Syria,  that 
they  are  straitened  in  their  field  of  labor,  while 
political  dangers  also  seem  to  favor  a  removal  to 
Egy])t.  JsTor  do  the  providences  stop  here. 
The  entire  force  in  Syria  is  unanimous  in  recom- 
mending tlie  founding  of  a  Mission  in  Egypt; 
the  Church  in  America,  with  equal  unanimity, 
endorses  the  proposition.  Further  providences 
still  are  manifested.     The  Khedive,  'Abbas  I., 


Kemark* 
able 
Frovi- 
dences. 


154     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

unfavorable  to  Western  civilization,  and  hostile, 
therefore,  to  missions,  dies  a  few  months  pre- 
vious to  the  date  of  the  founding  of  the  Mission. 
Sa'id  comes  to  the  throne,  a  ruler  friendly  to 
foreigners  and  liberal  in  his  support  of  Western 
institutions — so  liberal,  indeed,  that,  when  he 
died,  the  Moslems  in  Alexandria  called  out  pub- 
licly, "The  Christian  is  dead,  and  the  Moslem 
now  reigns."  Looking  at  these  and  at  the  many 
other  favorable  providences  which  the  Mission 
has  enjoyed  during  its  history;  considering,  es- 
pecially, this  providence,  that  this  most  attrac- 
tive, convenient  and  strategic  of  all  mission 
fields  has  been  strangely  reserved,  until  quite 
recent  years,  exclusively  for  the  unhampered 
missionary  operations  of  the  United  Presbyte- 
rian Church ;  weighing  all  these  facts  fairly  and 
honestly,  is  clearer  proof  possible  that  the  found- 
ing of  this  Mission  was  inspired  of  God,  ^Mio 
wished  to  commit,  in  a  special  way,  the  evangeli- 
zation of  Egypt  to  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  ?  To  all  reasons,  there  may  be  added 
then  this  historic  and  triumphant  argument  for 
carrying  this  Christian  Crusade  through  to  its 
successful  consummation,  Deits  Yidt. 

It  was  on  Xovember  15,  1854,  that  the  Rev. 
Thomas  McCague  and  Mrs.  McCague  arrived 
in  the  city  of  Cairo.  They  came  from  America, 
commissioned  to  establish  the  Mission  in  Egypti 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        155 

On  Xoveraber  24th,  just  nine  days  after  Mr.  and 
]\[rs.  McCagne's  arrival,  the  Eev.  James  Barnett 
reached  Cairo,  Coming  from  Syria,  with  the 
double  advantage  of  ten  years'  experience  as  a 
missionary  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage, he  was  able  to  begin  work  among  the 
people  without  delay.  These  three  missionaries, 
therefore,  are  the  foimders  of  the  American  Mis- 
sion in  Egypt,  and  jSTovember,  1854,  is  the  date 
of  the  Mission's  establishment. 

We  have  called  the  ten  years  with  which  we 
are  dealing,  Years  of  Beginnings.  Such  they 
were. 

In  this  period  fall,  the  occupation  of  Egypt 
(1854),  the  first  English  service  (Christmas  many 
Day  of  1854),  the  first  Arabic  service  (January  B^-eiunings. 
21,  1855),  the  first  cholera  scourge  (1855),  the 
opening  of  the  first  boys'  school  (this  at  Cairo, 
in  1855),  the  first  reported  book  distribution 
(185G),  the  first  Xile  Boat  work  (1857),  the 
first  occupation  of  Alexandria  (1857),  the 
first  death  in  a  missionary's  family  (1857), 
the  arrival  of  the  first  unmarried  woman 
missionary  (1858),  the  operation  of  the  first 
girls'  school,  at  Alexandria  (1858),  the  ad- 
mission of  the  first  converts  into  Church  fellow- 
ship (this  in  1859 — four,  after  five  years  of 
service:  a  Coptic  monk,  another  Egyptian,  an 
Armenian,  and  a  Syrian),  the  opening  of  the 


ICAJ     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

first  book  store  (1859),  the  organization  of  the 
first  Presbytery  (1860),  the  opening  of  the  first 
girls'  school  at  Cairo  (1860),  the  purchase  of  the 
first  Mission  boat,  the  "Ibis"  (1860),  the  first 
serious  persecution  (1861),  the  purchase  of  the 
first  Mission  premises  (1862),  the  first  evangel- 
istic work  as  far  up  as  Assuan  (1862),  the  first 
visit  of  a  Secretary  of  the  Board,  Rev.  J.  B. 
Dales,  D.  D.,  to  Egypt  (1863),  the  organization 
of  the  first  congregation  (this  at  Cairo,  in 
1863),  the  first  and  greatest  romance  of  the 
Egyptian  Mission,  when  an  Indian  prince 
visited  the  Mission  and  saw  in  the  Cairo  girls' 
school  a  fair  face,  which  he  couldn't  forget 
(1864),  the  first  class  in  the  Egyptian  Theolog- 
ical Seminary  (1864).  Without  •contradiction, 
these  were  years  of  beginnings. 
Foiuidatton       While  this  decade  of  foreign  missionary  work 

Laid.  .  1  /.  .        . 

in  Egypt  is  designated,  Years  of  Begmmngs, 
even  a  superficial  study  will  show  that  these  first 
ten  years  gave  direction  and  character  to  all  the 
years  which  have  followed.  The  evangelistic 
work  done  with  the  Xile  Boat  in  1857,  bespoke 
that  systematic  and  wide  evangelistic  work  which 
was  carried  on  in  later  years  from  the  seaboard 
to  the  First  Cataract.  The  arrival  of  Miss  Dales 
in  Egypt,  was  only  the  harbinger  of  Woman's 
Work  for  Woman,  which  is  to-day  so  large  a  part 
of  the  missionary  enterprise.     The  first  schools 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        157 

of  1855  and  1858,  were  but  the  forerunners  of 
that  Educational  Method  which  perhaps  more 
than  any  other  has  characterized  the  work  in 
Egypt.  The  first  four  who  sat  at  the  Lord's 
Table,  in  1859,  foretold  that  ingathering 
of  the  thousands  who  have  since  then  been  made 
partakers  of  a  pure  gospel.  That  first  native 
congregation  organized  at  Cairo  in  1863,  was  the 
forerunner  of  that  native  church  which  now 
numbers  more  than  fifty  congregations  and 
claims  about  ten  thousand  members.  The  Book 
Distribution,  of  1856,  and  the  bookstore,  opened 
in  1859,  were  the  first  signs  of  that  far-reaching 
colporteur  work  which  has  engaged  the  attention 
not  only  of  the  Mission,  but  of  two  Bible  So- 
cieties, the  American  Bible  Society  and  the  Brit- 
ish and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 

Thus  we  find,  in  this  first  decade,  the  germ  of 
almost  every  department  of  missionary  work; 
The  Evangelistic,  the  Educational,  the  Colpor- 
teur, the  Xative  Church,  Women's  Work.  Med- 
ical work  alone  had  not  yet  appeared,  but  even 
.with  reference  to  this,  the  needs  of  the  mission- 
aries themselves  had  about  led  them  to  appeal  to 
the  Home  Church  for  a  medical  missionary, 
when  a  resident  English  physician  met  their 
need. 

The  missionaries  already  named,  were  reen- 
forced  during  this  period.     In  1856,  the  Rev. 


158     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Gillian  Lansing  and  Mrs.  Lansing  joined  the 
Mission;  in  1858,  Miss  Sarah  B.  Dales;  in  1860, 
the  Rev.  John  Hogg  and  Mrs.  Hogg,  the  Kev. 
S.  C.  Ewing  and  Mrs.  Ewing,  and  Miss  Martha 
J.  McKown ;  in  1861,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Watson 
and  Mrs.  Watson,  and  Miss  Sarah  Hart.  Al- 
though no  biographical  sketches  are  possible, 
here,  the  missionaries  of  this  first  period,  four- 
teen in  all,  may  well  be  named;  four  years 
elapsed  before  further  reenforcements  came. 

Two  events  of  this  period  deserve  special  men- 
tion; one^  the  first  serious  outbreak  of  persecu- 
tion, and  the  other,  the  Mission's  greatest  ro- 
mance. 
Persecu-  ^  womau  of  Assiut,  wife  of  a  Moslem,  who 
had  formerly  been  a  Coptic  Christian  and  had 
embraced  Islam,  wished  to  return  to  her  former 
faith.  A  recent  proclamation  of  the  Sultan, 
'Abd-el-Majid,  granting  religious  liberty,  seemed 
to  safeguard  her  life  in  this  bold  purpose.  She 
went  to  the  Coptic  bishop  for  protection,  and 
formally  requested  Paris,  a  Syrian,  who  was  in 
charge  of  the  American  j\lission  School  at  As- 
siut, to  defend  her  in  any  legal  suit  that  might 
be  brought.  As  Faris  liad  special  linguistic  and 
debating  gifts,  and  the  Sultan's  proclamation 
was  known,  nothing  was  done  until  the  Sultan's 
death.  Then  the  impression  arose  that  tlie  new 
Sultan  would  not  be  bound  by  his  predecessor'a 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        159 

decree,  and  the  woman's  husband  brought  a 
charge  against  Faris  for  the  unlawful  detention 
of  his  wife  at  the  bishop's  house.  The  governor 
wrote  to  the  chief  of  police  to  summon  Faris,  and 
to  demand  that  he  deliver  up  the  woman  to  the 
government  for  the  purpose  of  adjudging  the 
case.  Faris  obeyed  the  summo-ns  and  appeared 
with  the  woman.  He  was  sent  to  the  police 
court.  A  resume  of  his  own  record  tells  what 
happened. 

"On  entering,  I  foimd  about  sixty  men  pres-  Moslem 
ent.  I  seated  myself  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
divan,  upon  which  the  kadi's  *  scribe  approached 
me  and  said  'Sit  on  the  ground.'  From  this 
remark  I  suspected  their  evil  purpose.  Find- 
ing they  had  not  accomplished  their  object  of 
exciting  me  to  say  something  rash  or  improper, 
they  stirred  up  the  ignorant  crowd  to  revile  me 
and  curse  my  religion.  On  this  I  attempted  to 
leave  the  court,  which  when  they  perceived,  they 
prevented  me  from  doing,  and  the  kadi  said 
'Why  have  you  come  here  V  I  replied,  *If  your 
iK.'Uor  will  have  the  goodness  to  read  the  petition 
and  the  order  of  his  excellency,  the  governor, 
thereto  annexed,  you  will  understand  the  reason 
for  my  appearing  before  you.'  The  scribe  then 
re^d  the  petition  and  the  order,  and  said,  'Why 
do  you  detain  the  woman  mth  you  ?'  I  remained 

*  Chief  judge. 


160    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

silent,  whereupon  the  hadi  said,  'Why  do  yon 
not  answer  the  scribe?-  I  replied,  'May  it 
please  your  honor,  I  am  the  attorney  of  the 
woman,  not  her  detainer,  and  therefore  I  ab- 
stained from  answering,  sinee  the  petition  which 
is  in  the  hands  of  your  honor  orders  the  appear- 
ance of  her  attorney,  not  her  keeper.'  The  kadi 
then  replied,  'We  do  not  acknowledge  your  right 
of  attorney.'  On  this  I  thanked  him  for  reliev- 
ing me  of  my  obligation.  He  then  said,  'It  is 
not  for  this  that  we  reject  your  right  of  attorney, 
but  because  you  are  an  infidel,  and  have  oc- 
casioned infidelity  in  our  town.'  I  then  said  to 
him  with  all  respect,  'I  should  think  that  your 
honor  cannot  believe  that  a  person  like  me  is 
able  to  originate  either  infidelity  or  faith,  seeing 
this  prerogative  belongs  to  God  alone.'  There^ 
upon  the  mufti  *  said,  'O  thou  accursed  one, 
thou  infidel,  thou  son  of  a  pig,  thou  polluted 
one  !  dost  thou  revile  the  religion  of  the  kadi  ?' 
He  then  stirred  up  some  of  the  ignorant  crowd, 
which  had  increased  to  about  two  hundred,  to  beat 
me ;  whereupon  the  brother-in-law  of  the  l-adl 
came  forward,  spat  in  my  face,  and  struck  me  on 
the  head.  The  hadi  then  called  out,  'Beat  him ;' 
and  upon  that  a  man  called  Ayub  Kashif  came 
forward  and  said,  'O  thou  accursed  infidel ;  dost 

♦  A  doctor  of  law. 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        161 

thou  think  that  'Abd-el-Majid  still  lives?  He  is 
dead,  and  Avith  him  has  died  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  also  the  reproach  of  Islam,  and  in 
hie  place  has  arisen 'Abd-el- Aziz,  who  has  brought 
back  to  the  religion  of  Islam  its  ancient  glory.' 
So  saying  he  struck  me,  with  his  cane,  on  my 
head  and  spat  in  my  face,  and  knocked  me  in 
the  stomach.  At  this  the  crowd  rushed  upon 
me,  and  commenced  beating  me  one  after  the 
other,  with  sticks,  spitting  upon  me,  and  throw- 
ing earth  upon  my  head.  As,  however,  I  did 
not  shed  any  tears  nor  utter  any  cry  of  pain, 
they  imagined  that  this  kind  of  beating  did  not 
affect  me  much.  So  the  k-adi  ordered  the  instru- 
ments of  torture  to  be  brought  from  the  police 
office,  and  then  said,  'Throw  him  down.  Put  on 
him  the  falagah/  (a  species  of  foot-rack  for 
raising  and  holding  the  feet  tight  for  the  bas- 
tinado). He  then  arose  and  commenced  beat- 
ing me  on  the  thighs.  Ayub  Kashif,  already 
mentioned,  came  forward  also  and  beat  me,  then 
the  mufti  and  his  scribe,  and  then  the  learned 
men  in  turn.  They  then  sat  do^vn  and  said. 
'Let  every  one  who  loves  the  Prophet  beat  this 
accursed  one!'  This  continued  for  about  half 
an  hour,  when  the  croAvd  began  to  desist  a  little, 
on  seeing  that  I  was  in  a  fainiting  condition. 
Then  one  of  them  kicked  me  on  the  head  to 
arouse  me.     Ayub  Kashif  came  forward  again 


162     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

and  commenced  beating  me  on  my  bare  feet,  say- 
ing to  those  who  held  the  falagali,  'Screw  ic 
tight.'  The  hadi  also  came  forward  again,  to- 
gether with  those  aforementioned,  and  took  their 
turn  in  beating  me,  saying  to  the  crowd,  'Why 
have  you  quit  beating  him  V  One  replied,  'We 
fear  he  will  die.'  Whereupon  the  kadi  and  Ayub 
Kashif  called  out,  'Kill  him !' 

"This  second  bastinadoing  lasted  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  when  I  swooned  away,  and 
they  began  to  think  I  was  dead.  On  reviving,  I 
said  to  Ayub  Kashif,  'For  God's  sake  have  pity 
on  me.'  He  replied,  'Become  a  Moslem,  O  ac- 
cursed one!  and  thou  shalt  be  delivered.'  I 
then  cried,  'O  Jesus,  save  me.'  Upon  this,  he 
exclaimed  'Kill  him,  and  let  Jesus  come  and 
save  him.'  " 

Faris  was  then  dragged  to  the  governor's 
house,  and,  as  the  latter  was  out,  he  was  dragged 
to  the  prison.  Later,  he  was  sent  in  a  dying  con- 
dition, as  it  was  thouglit,  to  his  house,  where  he 
recovered  somewhat  and  was  then  remanded  to 
prison.  Meanwhile,  the  American  Consular- 
Agent,  Mr.  Wasif-el-Kliayat,  sent  to  Cairo  to 
the  American  Consul,  a  statement  of  Avhat  had 
happened.  A  reply  came  back,  saying  that  the 
latter  had  just  been  removed  from  office.  The 
Moslem  governor  of  Assiut,  however,  realizing 
that  he  had  to  deal  vigorously  with  what  pro- 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        163 

mieed  to  become  an  extensive  religious  riot,  ar- 
rived in  Assiiit  the  next  day,  called  into  his  pre- 
sence the  kadi  and  other  learned  men,  reproved 
the  kadi,  rebuked  Ayub  Kashif  severely,  and 
blamed  others  for  the  seditious  proceedings. 

The  case  was  finally  reported  to  Hon.  W.  S.  p^Jifh*" 
Thayer,  Agent  and  Consul-General  of  the  U.  S. 
A.,  and,  after  various  attempts  had  been  made  to 
condone  the  crime  committed  against  an  Amer- 
ican protege,  Mr.  Thayer  succeeded  in  having 
justice  meted  out.  What  this  consisted  in,  ap- 
peared in  the  reply  which  the  government  sent 
to  the  Consul,  "Order  has  been  sent  to  Assiut 
to  fine  the  thirteen  men  whose  names  you  gas&re 
me  this  morning,  each  according  to  the  degree  of 
his  responsibility,  to  the  amount  of  100,000 
piasters  ($5,000).  Order  has  been  given  to 
the  governor  of  Alexandria  to  send  that  sum 
to  your  consulate,  with  the  request  that  you  will 
give  it  to  Faris.  Order  has  been  sent  to  Assiut 
to  put  these  thirteen  men  in  prison  for  one 
year." 

After  a  month  and  a  half  had  elapsed,  there  i*'*"* 

^  Versus  th« 

was  an  opportunity  of  securing  the  release  of  cuspei. 
the  men  imprisoned.  This  came  to  them  as 
such  a  surprise,  that  the  ringleader,  Ayub  Ka- 
shif, a  wealthy  merchant,  gave  a  1)anquet  of 
some  forty  courses  to  Dr.  Lansing,  who  had  ar- 
rived in  Assiut,  and  to  Faris,  whom  he  had  per- 


An  Indian 
Prince. 


164     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

secuted.  This  gave  Dt.  Lansing  the  opportunity 
of  saying  to  him,  ''Know,  sir,  that  your  Koran 
imprisoned  yon,  and  our  Gospel  released  you." 

"The  successful  issue,"  says  Dr.  A.  Watson, 
"of  such  a  glaring  case  of  Moslem  hate  and  per- 
secution, effectually  prevented  for  a  long  time, 
any  outward  and  unlawful  opposition  to  the 
mission  work  in  the  region  of  Assiut." 

Of  the  first  and  greatest  romance,  only  the 
briefest  statement  can  be  made.  Dhulip  Singh, 
an  Indian  Prince,  bearing  the  title  Maharajah, 
son  of  Rungit  Singh,  the  last  of  the  kings  of  the 
Punjab,  was  on  his  way  from  England  to  India, 
to  consign  the  body  of  his  deceased  mother  to 
her  friends,  to  be  buried  according  to  the  rites  of 
the  religion  in  which  she  lived  and  died.  This 
had  been  her  dying  request.  This  young 
prince,  himself  a  Christian,  had  lived  in  Eng- 
land since  the  time  when  Great  Britain  had 
taken  his  father's  kingdom,  and  had  retired  the 
young  heir  with  a  pension.  Being  of  royal  blood, 
his  social  rank  put  him  next  to  the  royal  family. 
He  was,  besides,  a  favorite  of  the  Queen.  In 
1864,  then,  while  at  Cairo,  he  visited  the  Mis- 
sion, inspected  its  schools,  and  left  a  hundred 
dollars  as  prize  money  for  deserving  children, 
and  again  two  hundred  and  fifty  more,  "His 
modesty,  simplicity  and  humility,  and  the 
genial,   loving,  genuine  tone  of  his   Christian 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        165 

cliaractcr,"  impressed  themselves  upon  the  mis- 
sionaries. But  he,  too,  had  been  impressed,  by 
a  sweet  face  in  the  Mission  Girls'  School.  It  is 
a  long  and  beautiful  story,  for  which  there  is 
not  space  here:  the  serious  conferences  of  the 
Prince  with  the  missionaries,  his  prayerfulness 
and  noble  purposes,  the  girl  Bamba's  anxiety  in 
the  presence  of  so  strange  a  providence,  the  final 
decision,  the  marriage,  life  in  England — an  in- 
experienced Abyssinian  girl  in  the  highest 
circles  of  British  social  life,  but  yet  possessing 
redeeming  qualifications,  the  natural  dignity 
and  the  sweet  spirit  of  a  daughter  of  the  King — 
then  some  dark  experiences,  and  the  sunset  hour ! 
ISTor  is  there  opportunity  to  enlarge  on  the  re- 
verse side  of  the  story  in  its  significance  to  the 
Mission;  $5,000  for  the  :Mission,  given  as  a 
thank  offering  to  the  Lord,  at  the  time  of  the 
wedding,  and  $5,000  annually  for  twelve  years 
toward  the  support  of  missionaries,  then  $10,000 
and  again  another  $10,000  given  shortly  before 
the  Maharajah's  death.  These  gifts  came  as  the 
Lord's  deliverance  to  the  Mission  at  the  time  of 
great  financial  stringency. 

Years  of   Coptic   Opposition  and  Persecution 
(1865-1870) 

Many  experiences,  vital  to  the  development  of 


166     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

missionary  work,  and  of  great  interest,  too,  be- 
long to  this  period,  but,  among  them  all,  Coptic 
Opposition  and  Persecution  constitute  an  ex- 
perience, acute  enough,  far-reaching  enough,  to 
warrant  the  entire  period  being  characterized  by 
it. 
A  Coptic  The  Coptic  Church,  claiming  one-fourteenth  of 
ho"d.'  the  population  of  Egypt,  is  strongest  in  Upper 
Egypt,  constituting  in  Lower  Egypt  but  three 
per  cent,  of  the  population,  whereas  in  Upper 
Egypt  the  Copts  make  up  eleven  and  six-tenths 
per  cent,  of  the  population;  one-fourth  of  the 
population  of  Assiut  was  Coptic  in  the  early 
days  of  missionary  work.  In  developing  the 
work  in  the  south,  and  especially  in  opening  up 
a  station  at  Assiut  in  1865,  the  Mission  was  in- 
vading the  territory  of  the  Coptic  Church. 
That  opposition  and  even  persecution  were 
bound  to  follow  could  be  readily  inferred  from 
the  hostility  which  the  Copts  had  already  begun 
to  show  to  the  work  in  Cairo.  That  the  mission- 
aries anticipated  just  such  difficulties  can  be 
readily  seen  by  a  perusal  of  Dr.  Hogg's  diary 
for  this  year.     It  reads,  in  part,  as  follows : 

''Stole  a  march  on  the  wakeful  Patriarch.  A 
month  at  work  in  Assiut  before  his  envoy  ar- 
rived. An  open  door.  Counted  sixty-five  men 
present  on  the  third  Sabbath."  Then  comes  the 
following:    'The  haram  (interdict).    The  door 


United  Presbyterian  Mission         167 

closed.  Try  to  find  a  back  entrance  by  means  of 
the  children  of  the  peasantry  who  come  to  our 
school  from  the  villages  aroimd.'' 

It  was  in  1867  that  the  Coptic  Persecution  planned. 
broke  out  in  all  its  fury.  This  persecution  was 
not  an  accidental  outbreak  of  fanatical  jealousy 
and  hate.  It  was  a  deliberate  plan  to  which  the 
government  lent  its  authority  and  influence  to 
make  effective  the  efforts  of  the  Coptic  Church, 
to  wipe  out  Protestantism  forever.  Isma'il,  thci 
reigning  Khedive,  was  far-sighted  enough  to 
appreciate  that  the  standards  w^hich  the  Ameri- 
can missionaries  were  setting  up,  would,  direct- 
ly or  indirectly,  result  in  holding  np  to  criticism 
and  condemnation  his  unjust  and  tyrannical 
treatment  of  his  ignorant  and  patient  subjects. 
To  directly  attack  the  missionaries  and  the 
Protestant  community,  would  bring  him  into 
difficulty  with  the  foreign  consuls,  and  would 
damage  the  reputation  which  he  especially 
wished  to  enjoy  of  being  a  liberal-minded  ruler. 
In  the  hostility  of  the  Coptic  hierarchy  to  the 
Protestant  reformers,  he  found  a  convenient  tool 
for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes.  It  is 
easy  in  the  East  to  give  a  hint,  and  a  hint  is 
enough  to  create  a  revolution.  The  hint  was 
given  and  a  revolution  of  sentiment  followed. 
The  Coptic  Patriarch,  regarded  by  all  devout 
Copts  as  the  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth,  and  called 


168    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

by  them  the  "  earthly  Christ,"  arranged  an  apos- 
tolic tour  among  the  churches  of  Upper  Egypt. 
His  retinue  made  no  secret  of  his  mission,  and 
declaring  this  to  be  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Protestant  heresy,  they  boldly  asserted  that  the 
viceroy  had  conferred  upon  His  Holiness  the 
right  to  condemn  to  the  galleys  all  those  who  op- 
posed him  by  adhering  to  the  Protestant  faith, 
or  to  seize  their  children  for  the  army. 

There  is  no  more  interesting  chapter  in  the 
history  of  the  Mission  in  Egypt  than  that  which 
tells  of  this  persecution.  We  have  time  only  to 
refer  to  some  of  the  leading  facts.  At  Assiut, 
the  Patriarch's  entrance  into  the  city  was  made 
to  imitate  Christ's  triumphal  entry  into  Jerusa- 
lem :  *' Seated  on  a  donkey  and  preceded  by  tho 
priests  and  boys,  bearing  crosses,  flags,  palm 
branches,  lighted  candles  and  burning  censors, 
beating  on  cymbals  and  chanting  in  Coptic  as 
they  went  along,  'Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David, 
blessed  is  he  that  cometli  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,'  the  procession  moved  slowly  along  from 
the  river  up  to  the  town,  armed  soldiers  march- 
ing in  front  and  in  rear,  by  order  of  the  govern- 
ment." 

The  task  of  purifying  (?)  the  Church,  occu- 
pied the  Patriarch's  whole  attention  while  he 
was  in  Assiut.  His  first  act  was  characteristic 
of  those  which  followed.     He  summoned  before 


United  Presbyterian  Mission         169 

liim  "the  Coptic  priest  of  Beni  Aleig,  who  Imd 
been  in  the  habit  of  permitting  his  brother,  one 
of  the  Mission's  theological  students,  to  conduct 
the  evangelistic  service  in  his  church  at  the  close 
of  the  Coptic  mass  on  Sabbaths,  and,  after  hav- 
ing him  severely  beaten  by  one  of  the  govern- 
ment soldiers,  he  degraded  him  from  his  priest- 
hood and  drove  him  out  of  his  presence."  Un- 
able to  attack  the  Protestant  Church  itself,  the 
Patriarch  imdertook  to  destroy  the  Protestant 
schools  by  attacking  the  parents  of  the  scholars. 
Most  of  the  students,  however,  were  from  distant 
provinces,  and  the  local  authority  failed,  there- 
fore, to  reach  them.  Three  students  of  the  Pro- 
vince of  Assiut  had  been  publicly  cursed  by  the 
Bishop  of  Assiut  just  before  the  Patriarch  ar- 
rived. One  of  these,  the  brother  of  the  Coptic 
priest  already  mentioned,  had  been  publicly 
cursed  before,  and  an  additional  curse  or  two 
did  not  seem  to  weigh  on  him.  In  most  cases, 
however,  the  Patriarch's  influence  availed  much, 
and  the  mission  school  fell  away,  the  boys  fear- 
ing the  threat  of  conscription  into  the  army. 

We  have  not  time  to  follow  the  movement  of 
persecution  as  it  increased,  the  farther  the  Pa- 
triarch went  on  his  journey  up  the  "NTile.  The 
story  of  the  imprisonment  and  exile  and  deliv- 
erance of  Fam  Stephanos  is  as  interesting  as 
anything  in  fiction,  and  is  a  wonderful  parallel 


Power  of 
the  Gospel. 


170     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

to  Peter's  deliverance  from  prison  in  the  days 
of  Herod.*  The  following  extracts  from  Dr. 
Hogg's  diary,  written,  in  the  main,  from  Assiut, 
must  suffice  to  show  us  the  course  of  events  dur- 
ing this  period: 

"1867 :  Patriarchal  raid.  Pretends  to  have 
delegated  power  to  send  all  Protestants  to  the 
public  works,  the  army,  or  the  White  Nile. 
(Then  quoting  the  Patriarch)  'I  and  the  Vice- 
roy are  one !'  A  bonfire  of  Protestant  books  in 
the  court  of  the  Bishop's  house — the  Patriarch 
looking  on!  Beats  Girgis  Bishetly  at  Ekhmim 
and  intrigues  for  the  banishment  to  the  White 
Nile  of  the  leading  Protestants  of  Kus.  Fol- 
low him  up  to  Ekhmim  and  afterwards  to  Kus. 
Correspondence  with  English  Acting  Consul- 
Oeneral.  Fam  and  his  companions  are  saved. 
Nicodemuses  at  Assiut  gather  courage.  Open  a 
night  school  for  adults.  The  Bishop  denounces 
it." 

The  next  year:  "1868:  The  enlightened 
Abbot  of  Deir  El  Maharrak,  deposed  by  the  Pa- 
triarch, comes  to  Assiut.  Inquirers  ask  his  ad- 
vice. Refers  to  Scriptures.  Signs  of  a  general 
movement  visible.  (We  are)  suddenly  called 
off  to  Cairo  to  take  charge  of  the  press  work,  etc. 
Absent  from  April  to  October.      (We)  charge 

For  full  account,  see  A.  Watson's,  "  American  Mission  in 
Egypt,"  212-224. 


United  Presbyterian  Mission         171 

Kheira  and  others  to  improve  the  opportunity 
caused  by  the  lull  in  the  storm — to  meet  to- 
gether and  study  the  Word.  Their  meeting  is 
transferred  to  the  Coptic  Church.  Monster 
gatherings.  Great  excitement.  On  our  return, 
the  night  meetings  are  crowded.  On  Sabbaths 
have  often  to  meet  in  the  open  court.  Hofd 
communion  there  amid  wind  and  dust.  The 
Patriarchal  Envoy  of  1865  is  in  Assiut  at  the 
time.  Hanna  Wesa,  whose  guest  he  is,  asks  him 
whether  he  ought  to  unite  with  us.  'If  I  were 
you,  I  would,'  was  the  astoimding  reply! 
Twenty-eight  joined  us  that  day  and  the  very 
next  day  a  site  was  bought  for  a  church." 

In  spite  of,  if  not  because  of,  Coptic  opposi- 
tion, the  infant  Protestant  Church,  whose  life 
was  thus  attacked,  grew  in  numbers  and 
strength.  !N^umbering  sixty-nine  members  at 
the  beginning  of  this  period,  it  more  than 
doubled,  having  180  members,  at  the  close  of 
that  period;  while  the  contributions  to  church 
work  almost  quadrupled,  increasing  from  $149 
to  $5G6. 

During  this  period  also,  in  18G5,  on  March  Beginnings. 
5th,  Dr.  Hogg,  opened  in  a  stable,  the  school 
which  has  since  developed  into  >Vssiut  College ; 
in  1867,  Makhail-el-Belyani  was  ordained  the 
first  native  minister  of  the  Evangelical  Church 
in  Egypt;  and,  without  attempting  to  name  all 


172    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

tliose  who  joined  tlie  Mission  during  this  period, 
we  note  the  arrival,  in  1868,  of  Dr.  D.  E.  John- 
ston, who  opened  up,  for  the  first  time  in  the 
Mission,  a  medical  department. 


Years  of  Expansion  and  Organization   (1870- 
1880) 

Phenomenal      'pj^^  orowth  of  the  Mission  and  of  its  work 

Growth.  °  .      T     .  n  1  rxM 

during  this  period  is  really  noteworthy.  Ine 
membership  of  180,  with  which  the  period 
opens,  more  than  quintuples  in  ten  years,  becom- 
ing 985.  The  attendance  at  services  advances 
from  438  to  2083.  Schools  increase  from 
twelve  to  forty-four;  and  instead  of  633  young 
lives  under  its  influence,  the  Mission  has  2218. 
Growth  in  numbers  is  accompanied  by  growth  in 
grace,  and  in  the  grace  of  liberality  too  (often  a 
supreme  test),  for  while  the  average  per  mem- 
ber of  native  contributions  to  church  work  was 
$3.14  in  1870,  ten  years  later  it  was  $4.80, 
while  the  total  contributions  went  up  from  $560 
to  $4726. 

A  section  in  the  Assiut  Report  for  1S70  goci 
a  long  way  toward  explaining  this  phenomenal 
growth.  The  section  is  entitled,  "Xew  Centers 
of  Operations,  and  the  Development  at  each  of 
a  System  of  Aggressive  Action  on  the  part  of 
Individual    Converts   laboring    without    pay." 


United  Presbyterian  Mission         173 

Here  we  read  of  such  male  members  of  the 
Church  as  are  unable  to  o;o  to  villages  and  to\\ais 
at  a  distance,  being  enrolled  as  Sabbath  School 
teachers,  or  as  workers  in  the  lanes  and  market- 
places. Others  go  off  in  pairs  and  generally 
spend  a  night  at  the  village  or  town  wdiich  they 
visit.  Some  are  absent  as  long  as  a  week  at  a 
time.  From  one  old  congregation  fifteen  go 
out;  from  another,  twelve.  "The  corps  is  not 
only  directed,  but  led  by  the  missionaries  them- 
selves who  generally  take  the  most  distant 
towns,  though  they  must  be  back  at  work  in  the 
Seminary  early  on  Monday."  ^ 

Then,  too,  a  remarkable  interest  in  the  study 
of  God's  Word  developed.  In  the  Assiut  Dis- 
trict, ih'irty  night  meetings  were  held  each  weelc 
throughout  the  entire  year  of  1872;  the  average 
attendance  at  each  meeting  was  twenty  persons. 
In  1873,  no  less  than  624  night  meetings  were 
held  in  the  iown  of  Assiut  alone,  while  neigh- 
boring towns  reported  318,  373  and  391  meet- 
ings res|)ectively. 

Another  factor  which  aided  in  the  rapid  ex-  i^ea<ung 
pansion  of  the  work  and  the  growth  of  the  Na- 
tive Evangelical  Church,  was  the  acceptance  of  "^ 
the  truth  by  men  of  influence.  For  example, 
in  Xakheilah,  where  there  is  to-day  an  earnest, 
spiritually-minded  Protestant  congregation  of 
some  300  members,  the  open  profession  of  his 
13 


174     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

faith  in  the  new  doctrine  on  the  part  of  Tadrus 
Abn  Zaglami,  resnlted  in  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  Chnreh  in  tliat  section.  Tadrus  was  a  man 
of  position,  liead  of  the  laity  of  the  Coptic  sect 
in  the  whole  region.  Yet  he  renounced  worldly 
honor;,  joined  the  small  and  despised  Protestant 
party,  opened  up  his  house  to  their  preachers, 
and  stood  for  their  defence,  silencing  their  op- 
ponents. He  always  carried  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament  in  his  pocket,  and  wherever  he  went 
and  whomever  he  met,  he  never  lost  an  oppor- 
tunity of  presenting  its  teachings.  Earnest, 
humble,  sincere  and  lovable,  his  influence 
reached  far,  while  all  the  members  of  his  large 
household  were  also  brought  to  a  saving  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth ;  this  gave  him  unfeigned  de- 
light. Having  lived  ''in  faith,  the  faith  which 
is  in  the  Son  of  God,"  he  also  joyfully  obeyed 
his  Master's  summons  to  appear  in  His  pres- 
ence. He  must  have  been  about  eighty  years 
old  when  he  died. 

While  these  missionary  successes  were 
achieved,  for  the  most  part,  through  work 
among  the  Copts,  nevertheless  every  possible  op- 
portunity was  improved  for  presenting  the  truth 
to  Moslems  also.  This  was  done  at  that  time,  as 
to-day,  chiefly  through  educational  work.  The 
result  of  such  work  was  seen  in  the  conversion, 
during  this  23eriod,  of  Ahmed  Fahmi.     His  per- 


United  Presbyterian  Mission         175 

secntion  constituted  an  epoch  in  the  hi>story  of 
the  Mission. 

Ahmed  and  his  two  brothers  liad  been  pnpils 
in  the  Mission  school  at  Cairo.  Their  father  was 
a  clerk  in  the  Moslem  court  of  appeal,  a  man  of 
good  position  and  some  wealth.  While  Ahmed 
was  attending  the  Mission  School,  he  also  took 
lessons  in  the  Azhar.  The  influence  of  the  Mis- 
sion School  upon  him  was  not  immediately  ap- 
parent. It  had  taught  him  to  read  English  and 
French,  and  had  brought  him  into  touch  with 
the  truth  and  opened  to  him  certain  books ;  that 
seemed  to  be  all. 

Later,  Ahmed  was  emjiloyed  as  a  teacher  of 
Arabic  for  the  new  missionaries.  One  of  the 
text  books  used  was  the  Bible.  After  his  con- 
version, he  told  how  he  tried  hard  not  to  think 
of  the  meaning  as  the  daily  chapter  was  read. 
After  a  while  he  began  to  ask  questions,  and  was 
finally  persuaded  that  Christianity  was  true. 
"He  had  great  conflict  of  soul.  On  one  side 
was  the  honor  of  his  family  and  friends,  and 
the  terrible  disgrace  he  would  bring  upon  him- 
self and  his  loved  ones  (for  he  dearly  loved  his 
parents,  brothers  and  sisters).  On  the  other 
hand,  the  terrible  persecution  and  death  that, 
perhaps,  would  follow ;  the  hate  that  would  take 
the  place  of  fond  love  in  the  hearts  of  his  rela- 
tives.    Then  there  was  the  love  of  Christ  and 


Conversion 
of  Ahiued. 


176     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

the  promise  of  salvation  through  Him  alone. 
After  a  long  and  fierce  struggle,  the  decision 
was  made,  encouraged  thereto  by  the  assurance 
that  he  would  receive  a  hundred-fold  more  in 
this  life  with  persecution  and  in  the  world  to 
come  life  everlasting."  On  Xovember  2Gth, 
1877,  he  was  baptized.  It  was  a  touching  scene. 
Everybody  felt  that  he  had  literally  given  up  all 
for  Christ. 

The  news  of  Ahmed's  defection  spread 
throughout  the  city.  It  was  not  safe  for  him  to 
leave  the  Mission.  His  Moslem  friends  came 
there  to  see  him;  they  brought  learned  men  to 
argue  him  back  to  Islam.  Arguments,  entreat- 
ies, tears  and  threats,  were  used,  but  without 
success.  One  evening,  as  he  was  going  from  one 
missionary's  home  to  that  of  another,  a  disguised 
band,  led  by  his  brother,  kidna])ped  him.  That 
night  was,  for  the  missionaries,  one  of  great 
anxiety  and  earnest  prayer. 

Ahmed  was  finally  located.  He  was  alive 
and  safe,  but  under  the  strictest  surveillance  of 
his  relatives.  This  lasted  for  five  weeks.  He 
was  assured  by  them,  that,  according  to  Moslem 
law,  he  would  be  murdered.  The  entreaty  of 
his  mother,  who  seemed  to  be  dying,  was  also 
brought  to  bear  upon  him.  Under  this  pressure, 
he  assented  formally  to  the  Moslem  creed.  He 
sent  word,  however,  to  the  missionaries,  who 


United  Presbyterian  Mission         177 

Lad  beeu  having  no  access  to  him,  that  he  was 
a  Christian.  A  few  days  later,  he  escaped  to 
the  Mission,  where  he  was  received  with  great 
joy.  Appeals  were  made  to  the  government  by 
the  British  and  American  consuls  for  the  safe- 
guarding of  Ahmed's  rights  under  the  act  allow- 
ing religious  liberty,  and  orders  vrere  indeed 
given  to  Ahmed's  relatives  that  they  would  be 
held  responsible  for  his  life.  Public  sentiment 
was,  however,  beyond  the  government's  control. 
It  continued  to  be  unsafe  for  Ahmed  to  appear 
in  public.  Unnerved  by  five  months'  confine- 
ment in  the  Mission  and  in  his  father's  house,  he 
was  glad  to  accept  an  offer  of  the  Earl  of  Aber- 
deen to  go  to  Scotland  and  pursue  further 
studies  there.  The  noble  Earl,  a  loyal  friend 
of  the  Mission,  assumed  all  the  expenses  of  tliis 
trip  and  of  Ahmed's  subsequent  course  of  study 
at  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  On  complet- 
ing his  course  of  study,  Ahmed  received  an  ap- 
pointment as  a  medical  missionary  to  China 
under  the  London  Missionary  Society. 

These  experiences  showed  that  the  day  had 
passed  when  a  Moslem  coidd  be  legally  put  to 
death  in  Egypt  for  becoming  a  Christian,  but 
they  also  revealed  tlie  power  of  Islam  and  its 
relentless  hostility  toward  Christianity. 

This  period  has  been  characterized  as  one  of  NewOr. 
organization,   as  mcII  as  of  expansion.        The 


ganizaUoii, 


Tho  Grace 
of  Glviug. 


178     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

development  of  the  work  and  the  growth  of  the 
Native  Church  called  for  adjustments,  rules  and 
new  organizations.  ''The  Egyptian  Associa- 
tion of  the  Missionaries  of  the  United  Presby- 
terian Church  of  A^.  A."  was  an  organization 
which  appeared  during  this  period.  x\n  impor- 
tant distinction  was  thus  made  between  the  Mis- 
sion and  its  agents  as  related  to  the  Church  in 
America,  and  the  ecclesiastical  organization  of 
the  ISTative  Church.  To  the  iSTative  Church 
Presbytery  were  committed,  freely,  all  ecclesias- 
tical matters,  such  as  the  oversight  of  students 
of  theology,  their  licensure  and  ordination,  the 
organization  of  congregations,  the  use  of  money 
contributed  by  the  native  churches ;  this  respon- 
sibility developed  in  the  ISTative  Church  self-gov- 
ernment and  self-direction.  To  the  Missionary- 
Association  were  committed  the  location  of 
American  missionaries,  the  disbursement  of 
funds  received  from  America,  and  the  control 
of  missionary  institutions  supported  by  foreign 
funds.  This  adjustment  Avas  one  of  great  im- 
portance for  the  proper  delimitation  of-  author- 
ity, and  the  avoidance  of  friction  in  administra- 
tion. 

During  this  period,  also,  a  number  of  what 
are  to-day  the  strong'cst  Protestant  congrega- 
tions in  Egypt  were  organized.  Thus  to  the 
successes  of  the  Mission  in  winning  individual 


United  Presbyterian  Mission        179 

converts,  there  was  added  the  more  significant 
success  of  building  tliese  up  into  self-directing, 
self-supporting  and  self-extending  native  con- 
gregations. Of  one  congregation  wc  read, 
''They  not  only  ask  no  help  from  the  Mission, 
but  actually  refused  it  when  offered  them.  The 
moral  effect  of  tliis  example  will  be  felt,  not  only 
throughout  Egypt,  but  even  in  Syria."  Of  an- 
other congregation  we  read,  ''Their  contribu- 
tions last  year  averaged  eight  dollars  per  mem- 
ber." 

Hindrances  ought  also  to  be  spoken  of.  In 
addition  to  much  persecution  of  individual  con- 
verts, we  discover  that  government  officials  fre- 
quently refused  congregations  permission  t'D 
build  houses  of  worship,  or  even  to  worship  in 
school  buildings  already  erected.  For  three 
years,  the  members  in  Kus  labored  under  such 
a  double  disability;  yet  the  work  of  grace  per- 
sisted and  even  increased  in  power. 


The  Arabl 
Rebellion. 


CHAPTER   VII 

RECENT  MISSIONARY  WORK 

The  occupation  of  Egypt  by  Great  Britain 
constitutes  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  Egypt  and 
of  missions  in  Egypt.  Not  only  were  new 
political,  social  and  industrial  influences  in- 
jected into  the  life  of  the  country  at  that  time, 
but  new  missionary  conditions  began  to  obtain, 
and  new  missionary  organizations  also  entered 
the  field  and  began  work  in  the  Nile  Valley. 
Missionary  operations  since  the  British  Occupa- 
tion may  all  be  properly  designated  as  Recent 
Missionary  Work. 

THE    UNITED    PRESBYTERIAN    MISSION 

Years  of  Political  Unrest  (1880-1885) 

In  1882,  there  broke  out  in  Egypt  a  rebellion 
which,  but  for  the  merciful  intervention  of  Prov- 
idence, might  have  been  characterized  by 
atrocities,  as  brutal  and  as  extended  as  those 
which  India  witnessed  during  the  days  of  the 
S'epoy  Rebellion.  This  Avas  the  Arabi  Rebel- 
lion. The  story  of  its  causes  and  development  is 
too  long  a  one  to  be  given  here,  but  the  Hand  of 
180 


Recent  Missionary  Work  181 

God  was  clearly  manifest  in  the  protection  of 
missionaries  and  their  work  during  those 
troublous  da  vs. 

On  June  llth,  1882,  with  shouts  of  ^^Death  to  ^f  0",?"'^ 
the  Christians,"  a  band  of  Moslem  ruffians, 
armed  with  clubs,  attacked  foreigners  in  the 
streets  of  Alexandria.  Many  hundreds  of 
people  were  killed,  others  injured  for  life. 
Some  were  pounded  and  stamped  upon  until 
death  ensued.  Yet  neither  missionary  nor  na- 
tive Christian  of  the  Mission  lost  his  life. 

On  July  llth,  the  city  of  Alexandria  was 
bombarded  by  the  British,  silencing  the  Egyp- 
tian forts.  Before  the  rebels  left  the  city,  how- 
ever, the  city  was  looted  and  set  on  fire.  On  the 
14th,  two  of  the  missionaries  visited  the  city,  all 
of  them  having  taken  refuge  on  board  an  Amer- 
ican frigate  then  at  Alexandria.  They  found 
the  city  deserted,  men  and  dogs  dead  and  dying, 
now  and  then  an  Arab  carrying  a  bit  of  white 
cloth  as  a  flag  of  truce,  and  nearly  all  the  build- 
ings in  the  heart  of  the  city  destroyed  by  fire. 
Yet  the  church-members  and  the  Mission  build- 
ings suffered  no  harm.  A  Missirm  book  store  in 
another  part  of  the  city  alone  was  robbed  of  a 
few  secular  books. 

September  15th  had  been  set  by  the  Moslems 
for  the  looting  of  Cairo  and  the  massacre  of  the 
Christians  in  that  city.     But  on  the  14th,  the 


182     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

British  troops  marclied  into  Cairo,  and  pillage 
and  bloodshed  were  averted. 

On  September  28th,  one  of  the  missionaries 
returned  to  Cairo.  His  train  was  delayed  for  a 
while  at  a  switch  outside  the  station.  Just  then 
a  freight  train  at  the  station,  loaded  with  ammu- 
nition caught  fire;  the  ammunition  exploded, 
and  the  freight  sheds  were  destroyed.  The  de- 
lay undoubtedly  saved  the  missionary's  life. 

Although  the  missionary  community,  scat- 
tered thoughout  the  Nile  Valley,  were  often  in 
great  fear  and  anxiety,  and  although  the  Mos- 
lems about  them  threatened  to  murder  all  the 
Christian  men  and  appropriate  their  wives  and 
daughters  and  property;  yet,  during  all  these 
troublous  times,  not  one  of  these  Protestant 
Christians  was  harmed,  nor  were  their  services 
interfered  with.  Again,  v:ere  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist  verified,  "The  angel  of  Jehovah  en- 
campeth  round  about  them  that  fear  Him." 
«^fll**  In  1883,  the  country  was  visited  by  an  epi- 
demic of  cholera.  Over  four  hundred  deaths 
occurred  at  Cairo  in  a  single  day.  The  official 
reports  place  the  total  number  of  deaths  in  the 
country  at  over  40,000.  The  missionaries  re- 
mained at  their  posts  and  ministered  to  the  sick. 
None  of  the  missionaries  were  attacked.  The 
promise  was  fulfilled,  "There  shall  no  evil  be- 


Doctrine. 


fp» 


PIONEER    MISSIONARIES    (1854-1864) 

Miss  Sakah  Hart 

Rev.  S.  C.  Ewing,  D.D.  Rev.  Andkew  Watson,  D.D. 

Rev.  John  Hogg,  D.D. 
Mks.  Catherine  E\vir:o  Mks.  Makgakht  Watson 

Mrs.   Bessie  Hogg  See  opp.  page  154 


Recent  Missionary  Work  183 

fall  thee,  neither  shall  any  plague  come  nigh  thv 
tent." 

During  this  period,  the  work  suffered  from 
the  defection  of  some  from  the  faith.  A  mis- 
sionary who  had  left  the  Mission  in  1869,  be- 
cause of  false  views,  usually  designated  as  Ply- 
mouthism,  returned  to  Egypt  and  endeavored  to 
sow  heresy  among  the  congregations  established 
by  the  Mission.  Under  the  plea  of  special 
sanctity,  as  well  as  of  personal  incligence  because 
unsupported  by  any  mission,  and  being  already 
acquainted  with  many  of  the  people  from  his 
former  residence  in  Egypt,  he  readily  secured 
an  entrance  and  a  hearing  wherever  he 'went. 
Many  were  carried  away  by  his  false  teachings ; 
among  them,  two  pastors.  After  failing  in  re- 
peated interviews  to  restore  these  brethren,  the 
native  Presbytery  foimd  it  necessary  to  put  them 
out  of  the  ministry,  while  the  missionaries  and 
the  Presbytery  strove  to  check  this  harmful 
movem.ent,  by  a  fuller  expounding  of  the  Scrip- 
tures bearing  on  the  disputed  points.  The 
leaders  of  the  movement  went  to  extreme  lengths 
in  teaching  that  unordained  laymen  could  ad- 
minister the  sacraments,  and  subsequently  fell 
out  among  themselves  about  certain  teachings. 
A  reaction  against  the  movement  resulted  and  it 
practically  died  out  altogether,  the  people  gener- 
ally declaring,  "We  will  stick  to  the  Church  that 


New 
Interest. 


184     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

gave  us  the  Gospel."  A  spiritual  coldness,  bow- 
ever,  followed  in  the  very  places  where  the 
movement  had  created  the  greatest  excitement. 
Special  interest  among  Moslems  appeared 
after  the  Arabi  Rebellion.  The  reasons  for  this 
are  not  hard  to  find.  The  failure  of  the  Rebel- 
lion and  the  downfall  of  the  mosque  party  which 
had  aided  Arabi,  blasted  the  hopes  of  those  who 
had  expected  the  establishment  of  a  Moslem 
regime.  Then  again,  as  almost  every  mission- 
ary knows,  there  are  a  great  number  of  Moslems 
who  in  secret  avow  thetr  disbelief  of  Islam  and 
their  belief  in  Christianity.  Many  of  them 
expected  a  large  measure  of  religious  liberty  to 
obtain,  because  of  the  British  Occupation. 
Their  inquiries  about  Christianity  became  more 
open  and  repeated.  The  experience  of  a  con- 
vert, Mohammed  Habib,  who  accepted  Chris- 
tianity, and  was  seized,  dragged  to  the  kadi's 
court,  maltreated,  robbed  of  his  goods,and  then 
had  his  wife  taken  from  him,  while  he  was  sent 
to  a  government  insane  asylum,— was  not  calcu- 
lated to  reassure  them  in  their  hopes.  His  ar- 
rest was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  British 
representatives  in  Egypt,  but  the  Egyptian 
Prime  Minister  persuaded  Her  Majesty's  Con- 
Bul-General  that  the  presence  of  this  convert 
would  be  the  cause  of  religious  disturbances,  and 
so  he  was  banished  for  over  a  year  to  Cyprus. 


Recent  Missionary  Work  185 

It  is  true  that  subsequently  bis  faitb  in  Christ 
suffered  eclipse,  but  nevertheless  his  experiences 
put  a  check  temporarily  upon  an  encouraging 
movement  among  Moslems. 

With  all  these  hindrances — rebellion,  cholera, 
defection  and  persecution, — the  Church  grew. 
During  this  short  period  of  five  years,  the  num- 
ber of  organized  congregations  grew  from  11  to 
19 ;  the  membership  from  985  to  1688 ;  and  the 
average  attendance  at  Sabbath  morning  services, 
from  2083  to  3114. 

Years  of  Great  Changes  (1885-1895) 

During  this  period,  great  -changes  began  to 
take  place  in  the  political  and  industrial  life  of 
the  country  as  a  result  of  British  administration. 
These  have  been  noted  in  earlier  chapters.  This 
period,  however,  was  also  one  of  marked  changes 
in  the  life  of  the  Mission.  Changes  occurred 
in  the  force  of  American  missionaries. 

In  1886,  the  Rev.  John  Hogg,  a  prince  of 
Christian  workers,  died ;  one  on  whom  the  Pro- 
testant community,  in  many  places,  depended 
so  entirely  for  encourageiient,  advice  and  lead- 
ership, that  the  people,  at  his  death,  were  alone 
saved  from  dispair  by  the  historic  saying,  "God 
is  not  dead."  At  his  funeral,  as  the  people 
passed  by  the  coffin  in  a  seemingly  endless  pro- 


Rev.  John 

Hogg. 


Mri«.  Sarah 
li.  Lansing, 


186    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

cession,  "to  look  for  the  last  time  on  the  placid 
face  of  the  great  and  good  man  who  had  done 
so  much  and  labored  so  long  in  their  midst,"  the 
Mohammedan  governor  who  %\as  present,  ex- 
claimed, "How  they  loved  this  man!"  and  this 
governor  and  his  attendants  showed  their  re- 
spect for  the  deceased  by  walking  to  the  city 
limits. 

In  1889,  Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Lansing  (nee  Dales) 
passed  to  her  reward.  She  was  the  first  un- 
married woman  missionary  of  tlie  Church  she 
represented,  to  go  to  the  foreign  field.  She  had 
a  rare  power  in  leading  souls  to  Christ.  As  a 
Sabbath  School  teacher  in  America,  before  go- 
ing abroad,  it  is  said  that  she  sought  not  only  to 
teach  the  lesson,  but  also  to  win  the  life.  So 
well  did  she  succeed,  tliat  "it  was  found,  when 
she  left,  that  of  all  who  liad  successively  come 
under  her  care  in  the  school,  not  one  had  failed 
so  far  as  known,  to  give  evidence  of  a  change  of 
heart  and  to  unite  with  the  Churcli."  This  power 
continued  with  her  in  her  school  work,  first  in 
Syria,  then  in  Egypt.  Foreigners  and  natives, 
missionaries,  mission  workers,  pupils  in  the 
school,  and  travelers,  all  were  drawn  to  her  by 
the  irresistible  charm  of  her  sympathy  with 
others  and  her  love  for  them.  The  power  of  her 
personality,   irradiated   as   it   was   by   Christ's 


Recent  Missionary  Work  187 

l©ve,  reached  even  through  her  printed  letters 
to  lumdreds  wlio  never  had  met  or  seen  her. 

In  this  period,  too,  in  1892,  the  Rev.  Gulian  J^^;,^^"^'' 
Lansing,  D.  D.,  died,  after  thiriy-five  years  of  d.d. 
missionary  service.  Dr.  Lansing  was  a  man  of 
great  faith.  "One  day  his  colleague,  Dr. 
Hogg,  entered  his  room  in  Cairo  and  said, 
'Dr.  Lansing,  I  have  nothing  with  which  to  get 
dinner.'     Dr.   Lansing,   taking  the  last   dollar  • 

out  of  his  purse,  gave  it  to  him,  saying,  'Take 
that.'  'But  what  will  we  do  for  to-morrow?' 
asked  Dr.  Hogg,  'i^ever  mind  to-morrow;  the 
Lord  will  provide,'  replied  Dr.  Lansing,  and  so 
He  did,  for  the  next  day  a  letter  came,  enclosing 
a  small  remittance."  He  had  also  great  per- 
sistency of  purpose.  To  him,  perhaps,  more 
than  to  any  one  else  belongs  the  credit  of  secur- 
ing funds  for  the  erection  of  the  splendid  Cairo 
lilission  premises,  near  Sliepheard's  Hotel.  Dr. 
Lansing  will  be  remembered  particularly  as  a 
man  of  striking  personality.  Genial  and  social, 
keen  and  cool  in  argument,  dignified  and  kingly 
in  his  bearing,  he  was  the  spokesman  of  the  Mis- 
sion in  official  circles.  To  him  chiefly,  is  due 
the  credit  of  securing  for  the  Protestant  Church 
in  Egypt,  legal  standing,  through  a  recognition 
of  it  by  the  government  as  a  religion  or  sect. 

In  1894,  Miss  Martha  J.  McKown  retired  to 
America,  afflicted  with  blindness.     The  Pressly 


Martha  .T. 
AIcKown. 


188    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Memorial  Institute  in  Assiut  is  most  intimately 
associated  with  the  memory  of  her  thirty-four 
years  of  useful  service,  for  the  elevation  of 
womanhood  in  Egypt.  The  Martha  J.  Mc- 
Kown  Hospital  for  Women  in  Tanta,  however, 
perpetuates  her  name. 
stephi^os!  There  were  also  changes  of  leadership  in  the 
Native  Church  during  this  decade.  During 
•  this  period,  Fam  Stephanos  died.     He  was  a 

remarkable  character.  Tall,  broad-shouldered, 
with  fine  physique,  long  beard,  and  kingly  bear- 
ing, he  could  easily  be  the  ideal  type  of  an  East- 
ern patriarch.  "He  had  been  from  early  youth 
in  the  service  of  the  Egyptian  government.  As 
tax-collector  of  his  town  and  district,  his  integ- 
rity and  fidelity,  in  a  land  where  such  qualities 
are  rare,  were  matters  of  wide  notoriety;  so 
that  his  name  had  become  a  household  word  in 
all  Upper  Egypt  among  those  who  loved  truth 
and  righteousness.  He  had  been  enlightened 
by  the  study  of  the  Scriptures.  His  zeal  for  the 
truth  broke  out  sometimes  in  acts  that  common 
men  could  not  perform,  and -if  they  did,  they 
would  have  been  apprehended  for  them.  Once 
the  bishop  and  his  clergy  were  about  to  march 
throught  the  Church  with  the  cross  and  the  pic- 
ture of  Christ.  He  ordered  them  to  stop,  and 
as  they  showed  themselves  refractory,  he  drove 
bishop,  priests  and  people,  out  of  the  Church." 


Changes 
Among  the 


Recent  Missionary  Work  189 

He  had  joined  tlie  Protestant  body  in  tlie 
early  days  of  its  weakness  and  a  storm  of  perse- 
cution liad  burst  upon  him,  which  only  the  de- 
voted efforts  of  an  American  missionary  and  the 
most  energetic  political  agitation  sufficed,  under 
the  blessing  of  God,  to  prevent  sweeping  him, 
under  pretext  of  exile,  to  certain  death.  He  be- 
came the  leader  of  a  strong  Protestant  commun- 
ity at  Kus. 

Remarkable  changes  also  seemed  to  be  affect- 
ing the  life  of  the  Coptic  Church.  The  diffu-  copt». 
sion  of  religious  knowledge  and  especially  the 
distribution  of  the  Scriptures  by  the  Mission, 
led  many  of  the  Copts,  who  wished  to  adhere  to 
the  Coptic  Church,  to  ask  whether,  both  in  wor- 
ship and  doctrine,  the  Coptic  Church  might  not 
be  reformed.  In  many  places,  accordingly,  pic- 
tures were  removed  from  the  churches,  and  a 
more  liberal  use  of  tlie  Arabic  and  a  more  re- 
stricted use  of  the  dead  Coptic  began  to  obtain 
in  the  church  service.  In  many  places,  nightly 
meetings  were  opened  for  the  study  of  the  Bible, 
in  imitation  of  the  methods  used  by  the  Protes- 
tant workers.  At  Assiut,  the  Coptic  Church 
went  so  far  as  to  ask  for,  and  secure,  the  services 
of  a  Protestant  licentiate  to  conduct  religious 
meetings  for  her  members  for  an  entire  year. 
In  the  higher  circles  of  the  Church,  the  reform 
spirit  manifested  itself  in  the  organization  of  a 
14 


New 
Stations. 


190    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Council  to  rectify  abuses  in  the  administration 
of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  Coptic  Church. 
The  Patriarch,  however,  proved  intractable. 
The  Council  secured  his  temporary  banishment, 
but,  failing  to  find  support  among  the  people, 
the  reform  movement  finally  failed  to  effect  any 
real  change  in  the  standards  and  policy  of  the 
Coptic  Church. 

Most  important,  so  far  as  the  American  Mis- 
sion was  concerned,  was  a  new  development  in 
the  policy  of  the  Mission  with  reference  to  work 
in  the  Delta.  Absorbed  with  the  opportunity 
for  evangelizing  the  Copts  and  for  extending  the 
work  into  Upper  Eg}'pt,  little  thought  and  less 
effort  could  be  spared  for  considering  and  meet- 
ing the  needs  of  the  Delta  population,  which  is 
almost  solidly  Mohammedan.  In  1893,  how- 
ever, a  missionary  station  was  opened  at  Tanta ; 
in  1894,  missionary  stations  were  opened  at 
Benha  and  Zagazig.  This  change  of  front  re- 
sulted from  a  number  of  considerations,  but  the 
change  marks  an  epoch  in  the  policy  of  the  Mis- 
sion, whose  ultimate  aim  is  to  definitely  reach 
purely  Mohammedan  communities. 

With  its  continued  growth  in  membership  and 
influence,  the  Native  Protestant  Church  of 
Egypt  gave  indications  of  arriving  at  the  age  of 
self-consciousness.  Having  developed  from  two 
organized  congregations  to  eleven,  and  then  to 


Recent  Missionary  Work  191 

nineteen,  in  tlie  three  periods  we  have  considered, 
it  grew  in  the  period  with  which  we  are  dealing 
to  thirty-three  organized  congregations.  The 
time  when  an  infant  Church,  made  up  of  scat- 
tered communities  and  widely  separated  pastors, 
"finds  itself,"  to  use  a  phrase  of  Kipling,  is  a 
time  of  great  importance.  It  marks  the  ful- 
filment of  missionary  hopes  and  prayers  and  ef- 
forts, and  yet  it  marks  a  time  of  special  anxiety 
and  responsibility. 

At  the  close  of  this  period,  the  work  of  the  Re»«it«- 
American  Mission  embraced  33  organized  con- 
gregations, Avith  a  total  membership  of  4554; 
there  were  119  week-day  schools  in  operation, 
touching  7975  pupils ;  while  the  Sabbath  morn- 
ing services  could  claim  an  average  attendance 
of  8886  persons. 

Years  of  Growth  and  Development 
(After  1895) 

This  period  witnessed  both  extensive  growth 
and  intensive  development.  Our  survey  of  the 
history  of  the  American  Mission  has  been  so 
rapid,  that  scarcely  any  reference  has  been 
made  even  to  leading  institutions — the  College, 
the  Seminary,  the  Hospitals,  the  large  boarding 
schools.  No  account  has  been  given  of  the  de- 
velopment of  even  the  great  departments  of  mis- 


192    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

sion  work.     If,  then,  we  suddenly  come  upon 
these  in  our  survey  of  this  period,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  the  development  of  both  insti- 
tutions and  departments  was  gradual.     Indeed, 
almost  all  of  them  appeared  in  the  very  first 
period,  although  in  very  elementary  form. 
Synod  of      Ti^g  Evangelical  Church,  which  had  but  one 
the  Nile.  pj.gg^y^gj.iai  organization  in  1895,  becomes,  in 
this  period,  a  more  extensive,  as  well  as  a  more 
complex,  organization.     On  Feb.  22,  1899,  the 
fifty  organized  congregations  and  the  165  sta- 
tions, together  embracing  6515  members,  until 
then  constituting  but  one  presbytery,— the  Pres- 
bytery of  Egypt, — were  divided  into  four  pres- 
byteries, the  Presbyteries  of  Thebes,  of  Assiut, 
of  Middle  Egypt,  and  of  the  Delta.      On  May 
11th,  these  again  were  organized  into  the  Synod 
of  the  Nile.     Since  1899,  the  number  of  organ- 
ized congregations  has  increased  still  further  and 
the  membership  has  advanced  fifty  per  cent. 
These  presbyterial  divisions  grew  out  of  evan- 
gelistic districts  which  had  been  created  for  the 
better  administration  of  home  missionary  work. 
A  noble  pedigree  for  any  Presbytery  to  enjoy, 
and  a  proper  reminder  of  the  true  purpose  of  all 
church  organization. 
Widespread       j^  educatioual  work,  we  discover  that  this  de- 
**"'^"ion.  partment  has  grown  to  such  an  extent,  that  we 
now  have  a  great  network  of  schools,  enrolling 


ASSIUT    COLLEGE 

Stable  and  Yard  where  School  was  Begun 

Present  Main  Colleg-e  Buildmg' 


Recent  Missionary  Work  193 

over  jfifteen  thousand  scholars.  The  significance 
of  these  figures  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact, 
that  the  enrolment  in  all  regular  government 
schools  for  the  same  year  was  18,712.  We  also 
find  these  schools,  graded,  unified,  correlated,  so 
that  each  adds  to  its  own  prestige  and  power,  the 
prestige  and  power  of  this  entire  missionary 
educational  movement. 

We  also  find  this  important  department  of  the 
Mission's  work,  to  a  great  extent  self-support- 
ing, paying  some  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
expenses  of  its  operation. 

We  find  at  the  head  of  it  a  college,  Assiut  Col- 
lege, with  some  seven  hundred  students  drawn 
from  over  a  hundred  towns  and  villages,  chiefly 
from  Upper  Egypt,  yet  there  is  a  representation 
from  thirteen  of  the  fourteen  Provinces  of  the 
country. 

We  find  the  students  of  this  College  every- 
where, from  Alexandria  to  the  farthest  outposts 
of  the  Sudan,  serving  as  editor:^  and  journal- 
ists, as  government  officials  both  in  Egypt  and 
the  Sudan,  in  railway  service,  in  the  post-offices, 
as  bankers,  too,  as  merchants,  as  agricultur- 
ists,— and,  for  the  most  part,  upholding  by  their 
lives  and  teachings,  the  standards  of  truth  and 
morality  and  righteousness. 

Of  this  institution,  Mr.  John  R.  Mott,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  said. 


194     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

"After  visiting  nearly  all  of  the  missionary  col- 
leges- and  schools  of  importance  in  the  non- 
Christian  world  and  studying  their  work  and  op- 
portunities, I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying, 
that  the  Assiut  Training  College,  of  Egypt,  is 
one  of  the  most  strategic,  most  efficient  and  most 
fruitful  institutions  in  the  world.  In  fact,  I 
know  of  no  other  college  which  has  yielded  larg- 
er practical  results  for  the  amount  of  money 
expended  than  this  particular  institution." 

We  also  find  the  Pressly  Memorial  Institute 
and  the  Luxor  Girls'  School  for  girls  minister- 
ing to  the  higher  education  of  the  girls  of  Upper 
Egypt,  while  the  Girls'  School  at  Cairo,  is  de- 
veloping into  a  Girls'  College  for  the  elevation 
of  womanhood  in  Lower  Egypt. 

We  find  the  fruits  of  this  department  of  the 
Mission  in  the  enlightenment  and  literacy  of  the 
Protestant  communities  every^vhere.  A  census 
taken  by  the  Mission  in  1898,  showed  that  in  its 
Protestant  community  of  22,500  souls,  there 
were  521  out  of  every  1,000  men  who  could  read, 
and  200  out  of  every  1,000  women.  The  gov- 
ernment census  of  the  previous  year,  could  show 
in  the  country  at  large,  even  including  foreign- 
ers, only  124  out  of  every  1,000  men,  and  only 
11  out  of  every  1,000  women,  who  could  read. 
But  more  than  this,  we  find  these  schools  in- 
fluencing hundreds  of  lives  outside  the  Protes- 


Recent  Missionary  Work  195 

tant  community.  Indeed,  of  15,451  pupils  en- 
rolled in  1906,  only  3110  are  Protestants,  while 
3115  are  Moslems  and  8179  are  Copts,  the  rest 
being  of  various  faiths. 

We  turn  to  the  Evangelistic  Department. 
Here  we  discover  that  the  work  of  the  Mission 
has  become  more  centralized.  The  main  Mis- 
sion Stations  have  developed  so  much  work, 
that  missionaries  do  not  itinerate  personally 
among  the  toAvns  and  villages  to  the  extent  to 
which  this  was  done  by  earlier  missionaries. 
This  is  not  an  altogether  satisfactory  develop- 
ment, but  seems  unavoidable  \dien  the  work  is 
so  burdensome  at  these  centers  and  the  force  is 
inadequate. 

However,  the  work  directed  from  these  cen- 
ters has  increased  considerably.  A  strong  force 
of  Bible  women  visit  homes  and  carry  the  Gos- 
pel to  some  three  thousand  women,  who,  other- 
wise, would  scarcely  come  within  the  hearing  of 
the  Word.  Presbyterial  workers,  licentiates 
and  evangelists,  go  out  to  towns  and  villages 
where  no  other  missionary  work  is  done,  and 
preach  the  Gospel  or  speak  to  men  individually 
about  its  teachings.  While  still  more  direct 
evangelistic  work  would  be  desirable,  yet  the 
eifectiveness  of  the  work  done  is  witnessed  by 
the  fact,  that,  while  in  18^)4  five  hundred  was  re- 
garded as  a  large  number  to  be  added  to  the 


EvangcU 
zatiuii. 


196    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Cliiirch  in  a  single  year  on  profession  of  their 
fait]),  at  the  close  of  the  period  we  find  over 
eight  hundred  reported  for  a  single  year. 
Literature.  rj.^^  -q^^^  Department  has,  thus  far,  been 
mentioned  only  incidentally.  The  cooperation 
of  the  American  Bible  Society  and  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  led  to  a 
wonderful  development  of  this  work.  The  sale 
of  over  forty  thousand  Bibles  or  portions  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  over  seventeen  thousand  relig- 
ious books,  in  a  single  year,  constitutes  an 
agency  for  evangelizing  the  country  whose  in- 
fluence can  scarcely  be  measured.  While  the 
Mission  had  entire  charge  of  this  work  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  period,  a  readjustment  was  made 
which  placed  a  good  part  of  this  work  directly 
and  independently  under  the  care  of  the  Bible 
Societies  themselves.  The  same  large  and  far- 
reaching  work  continues,  however,  to  be  done. 
^^  '^orid!  ^^  ^^®  Medical  Department,  practically  noth- 
ing has  been  said.  During  this  period,  however, 
two  strong  and  well-equipped  institutions  bring 
this  department  into  marked  prominence.  The 
one  is  the  Assiut  Hospital,  built  largely  through 
the  indefatigable  efforts  of  Dr.  V.  M.  Henry, 
now  almost  entirely  self-supporting,  and  minis- 
tering, in  a  single  year,  to  over  two  thousand  in- 
patients, while  it  touches  some  20,000  others 
through  its  clinics.    The  other  is  the  Martha  J. 


Recent  Missionary  Work  197 

MuKo\\Ti  Hospital  at  Tanta,  erected  by  the 
Women's  Board  in  memory  of  Miss  McKown, 
and  caring  for  over  two  hundred  in-patients 
and  almost  10,000  clinic  cases. 

The  opening  up  of  the  Egyptian  Sudan  dur-  MiBtirr. 
ing  this  period,  led  to  important  missionary 
developments.  The  Mission  in  Egypt  sent,  in 
1899,  two  of  its  missionaries,  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Watson,  D.  D.,  and  the  Rev.  J.  K.  GifFen,  D.  D., 
into  the  Sudan,  to  report  on  the  possibility  and 
propriety  of  opening  up  work  in  that  country. 
Later,  the  American  Mission  in  Egypt  was 
called  upon  to  furnish  the  Mission  in  the  Sudan 
with  its  first  workers.  The  Rev.  J.  K.  Giffen, 
Dr.  H.  T.  McLaughlin,  the  Rev.  Ralph  E.  Car- 
son, and  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Sowash,  all  formerly  in 
Egypt,  were  transferred  to  the  Sudan.  The 
Sudan  Mission,  although  now  independently 
organized,  is,  therefore,  the  child  of  the  Egyp- 
tian Mission.  The  !N'ative  Church,  too,  bap- 
tized with  the  missionary  spirit,  regarded  the 
Sudan  as  her  assigned  foreign  missionary  field. 
She  began  to  contribute  money  and  workers,  and 
the  inspiring  picture  is  presented  of  a  mission 
Church  becoming  a  missionary  Church. 

Another  event  of  great  signiticance  also  be- 
longs to  this  period.  In  October,  1902,  after 
a  ten-day  conference,  characterized  by  earnest 
prayer  and  a  deep  sense  of  responsibility  for  the 


Appeal 


198    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

spiritual  condition  of  their  mission  field,  the  mis- 
sionaries in  India,  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  of  ]^.  A.,  issued  an  appeal  to  the  Home 
Church  for  180  new  missionaries.  This  appeal 
contemplated  the  evangelization  of  the  entire 
territory  assigned  by  Providence  to  the  Mission. 
Quickened  by  the  faith  of  their  brethren  in 
India,  the  American  missionaries  in  Egypt  were 
brought  face  to  face  with  this  new  and  inspiring 
conception,  the  actual  evangelization  of  Egypt. 
Regarding  eight  of  the  ten  millions  of  Egypt's 
population  as  fairly  constituting  the  responsi- 
bility of  their  Mission,  they  asked  themselves 
definitely  the  question,  What  force  may  be  re- 
garded as  needed  for  the  adequate  evangeliza- 
tion of  this  field  ?  After  long,  careful  and  pray- 
ful  consideration  of  this  whole  subject,  an  ap- 
peal was  issued,  in  February,  1903,  to  the 
Church  in  America  for  280  nQvi  missionaries. 
E"ever  in  her  history  was  the  Church  in  Amer- 
ica so  stirred  as  by  these  appeals.  There  was  no 
gainsaying  the  necessity  of  having,  at  least,  the 
number  of  workers  which  the  appeals  called  for, 
if  the  millions  of  these  mission  fields  were  to  be 
evangelized.  N^either  was  there  any  gainsaying 
the  obligation  to  evangelize  these  fields  which 
the  clearest  providences  had  assigned  to  the 
Church.  The  only  question  was,  Would  the 
Church  recognize  her  obligations,  assume  them, 


Recent  Missionary  Work  199 

and  go  forth  to  discharge  them  In  the  strength 
of  her  Lord.     The   General   Assembly  of  the 
Church,  on  June  1,  1903,  at  a  solemn  and  pray- 
erful  session,    by   unanimous    rising   vote,    en-  Nee<i,  obii- 
dorsed  the  appeals  of  the  Missions  as  a  true  state-  ?«*'""  »"*' 

...  ,  -     •         Purpose. 

ment  of  existing  ?ieea,  as  a  true  statement  oi  the 
duty  of  the  Church,  and  as  the  deliberate  pur- 
pose of  the  Church  to  accomplish.  The  action 
of  the  Assembly  has  been  steadily  gaining  power 
over  the  life  of  the  Church.  Upon  its  complete 
and  practical  acceptance  by  all,  Ijinges  the  reali- 
zation of  the  vision  which  has  been  lifted — an 
evangelized  Egypt. 


CHURCH    MISSIONARY    SOCIETY 

We  have    already    seen    how    this    Societv  a  New 

''     01>i©ctiv©« 

labored  devotedly  in  Egypt  in  the  early  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  directing  its  efforts  at 
that  time  to  the  reforming  and  quickening  of  the 
Coptic  Church.  With  the  British  occupation 
of  Egypt,  the  Society  was  led  to  take  up  again, 
after  a  lapse  of  so  many  years,  missionary  work 
in  the  Nile  Valley.  The  objective  of  this  sec- 
ond attempt  is  in  sharp  contrast  with  that  of  the 
first,  Now  the  Mission  is  directed  toward  Mos- 
lems, as  the  former  efforts  had  aimed  to  reach 
the  Coptic  Church. 

On  December  16,  1882,  the  Rev.  F.  A.  Klein, 


200    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

•  the  Society's  experienced  Palestine  missionary 

and  Arabic  scholar,  arrived  in  Cairo.  Miss 
Whately  (of  whom  more  later),  opened  to  him 
the  hall  of  her  school  for  holding  services,  and, 
through  the  attractions  of  an  open  reading-room, 
Mr.  Klein  came  into  touch  with  many  Moslem 
inquirers.  This  interest,  however,  3/Ir.  Eugene 
Stock  says,  was  "more  akin  to  the  Athenian 
curiosity  of  St.  Paul's  days  than  to  serious  in- 
quiry." 

In  1888,  Dr.  F.  J.  Harpur  was  transferred 
from  Arabia  to  Cairo,  and  opened  up  medical 
work  at  Old  Cairo.  Thus  we  have  accounted 
for  the  two  departments  upon  which  the  Mission 
has  placed  its  greatest  reliance  in  its  efforts  to 
reach  Moslems,  the  literary  agency  and  the  med- 
ical. With  the  arrival  of  reenforcements  and 
funds,  schools  were  opened  for  boys  and  for  girls, 
hospital  buildings  were  erected,  w^ork  was  in- 
itiated in  Cairo  and  Heluan,  and  some  itinerat- 
ing was  done  by  medical  missionaries.  The 
Society's  Mission  in  Cairo  was  regarded  as  a 
base  for  advance  up  the  ISTile  into  the  Sudan, 
and  so,  indeed,  in  1899,  the  Sudan  Mission  of 
this  Society  was  established. 

Progress.  jj^  spite  of  the  Mission's  policy  of  confining 
itself  to  work  among  the  Moslems,  a  number  of 
enlightened  Copts  have  become  affiliated  with 
the  Mission  and  have  joined  it.      The  Mission 


Recent  Missionary  Work  201 

has,  hoAvever,  done  some  very  aggressive  work  in 
devising  new  methods  of  approaching  Moslems. 
Debating  societies,  in  which,  however,  religious 
discussion  is  avoided,  stereopticon  lectures,  open 
reading-rooms,  as  well  as  personal  work  and  the 
distribution  of  moral  and  religious  tracts  at 
fairs  and  public  gatherings,  have  been  used  as 
means  for  gaining  a  personal  acquaintance  with 
young  Moslems.  A  semi-religious  paper, 
Orient  and  Occident,  is  published  weekly  with  a 
view  to  reaching  Moslems. 

The  Mission  reports,  in  1906,  25  British 
missionaries,  35  native  Christian  lay  workers, 
65  communicants,  9  baptisms  during  the  year 
(3  adults,  6  children),  8  schools  with  304 
scholars,  2  hospitals.  * 

NORTH    AFRICA    MISSION 

The  IvTorth  x\frica  Mission  is  a  British  mis- 
sionary agency.  It  is  undenominational.  Its 
work  is  found  in  Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunis,  Trip- 
oli, and  Egypt.  The  annual  receipts  of  the 
Society  for  all  its  missions  have  aggregated  less 
than  fifty  thousand  dollars,  so  that  it  has  not 
been  able  to  extend  its  work  in  Egypt.  The 
work  there  was  begun  in  1802.  Two  stations 
have  been  established,  both  in  the  Delta ;  one  in 
Alexandria,  the  other  at  Shebin-el-Kom.     The 

*  For  statistics  see  Appendix  III. 


202    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Mission  aims  to  reach  Moslems  in  particular, 
and  has  had  the  joy  of  baptizing  several.  * 

EGYPT  GENERAL  MISSION 

The  workers  in  this  Mission  are  a  band  of  de- 
voted British  volunteers,  who  went  to  Egypt  in 
1898.  Their  aim  is  not  to  encroach  upon  the 
territory  of  other  missions,  but  simply  to  supple- 
ment their  work.  In  the  beginning,  their 
policy  was  to  avoid  all  missionary  machinery 
and  to  depend  upon  personal  contact  with  men 
for  a  direct  presentation  of  Gospel  truth.  They 
have  been  compelled  by  the  determining  influ- 
ence of  religious  conditions  in  Egypt  to  modify 
their  policy.  Schools  and  book  depots  have 
been  opened  by  them  at  six  main  stations,  all  in 
Lower  Egypt,  and  some  successful  work  has 
been  done  among  Moslems.  * 

SUDAN   PIONEER   MISSION 

This  is  a  German  Mission,  begun  in  1901. 
Its  aim  is  to  carry  the  Gospel  into  the  Sudan. 
Pending  the  opening  of  the  Sudan,  its  mission- 
aries located  at  Assuan,  began  the  study  of  the 
language,  and  have  worked  among  the  Bisharin 
Arabs  and  the  ^Nubians.  The  Missioli  has  not 
been  able,  for  lack  of  funds,  to  extend  its  work.* 

*  For  statistics  see  Appendix  IV. 


Recent  Missionary  Work  203 

OTHEE     MISSIONS 

The  Canadian  Holiness  ^lovenient  extended 
its  operations  to  Egypt  in  1899,  and  labors 
chiefly  for  the  acceptance  of  its  special  doctrines 
by  Christians  of  Upper  Egypt.  There  are  in 
the  Faynm  District,  also,  workers  of  the  Pente- 
cost Bands  of  the  World.  * 

INSTITUTIONS    AND    SPECIAL    WORK 

A  number  of  organizations  or  individuals 
have  labored  in  Egypt  for  the  uplifting  of  the 
people,  and  these  may  be  grouped  together  be- 
cause they  use  some  special  method  or  limit 
their  operations  to  some  special  locality  or  in- 
stitution. 

The  Established  Church  of  Scotland  began 
educational  work  for  Jews  in  Alexandria,  in 
1858,  and  this  work  has  been  maintained  unin- 
terruptedly during  the  past  five  decades.  Ser- 
vices are  also  conducted,  but  not  in  Arabic.  * 

In  1858,  Miss  M.  L.  Whately,  daughter  of  the 
famous  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  first  visited 
Egypt.  A  few  years  later,  she  opened  a  school 
for  girls  in  Cairo,  and,  still  later,  a  school  for 
boys  and  a  medical  mission.  Miss  Whately  also 
itinerated  among  the  villages.  The  graphic  pic- 
tures of  Egyptian  life  which  appear  in  her  books 
"Among  the  Huts  in  Egypt"  and  "Eagged  Life 

*  For  statistics  see  Appendix  IV 


204     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

in  Egypt,"  written  for  young  people,  are  most 
readable  and  gave  a  wide  publicity  to  her  work. 
Her  best  known  work  was  her  school  for  girls  in 
the  Faggaleh  quarter  of  Cairo.  In  1^9,  Miss 
Whately  died,  and  this  school  soon  came  under 
the  care  of  the  American  Mission,  under  whose 
auspices  it  is  still  being  maintained. 

The  Dutch  Mission  at  Galiub  was  founded  in 
1866.  It  consists  chiefly  of  an  Orphanage,  al- 
though a  native  congregation  of  about  thirty 
members  has  also  been  developed. 

The  jSTile  Mission  Press  is  an  agency  for 
printing  Christian  literature  in  Arabic.  It 
owes  its  existence,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  to 
Miss  Annie  Van  Sommer,  of  England,  and  its 
usefulness  will  be  undoubtedly  large  in  a  Mos- 
lem country  where  the  printed  page  is  perhaps 
the  best  evangelizing  agency. 

In  Port  Said,  we  find  the  Peniel  American 
Mission  and  the  Bethel  Orphanage,  both  doing 
work  among  children. 

There  are  a  number  of  homes  and  hostels, 
such  as  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tion and  other  organizations,  at  both  Cairo  and 
Alexandria,  but  these  minister,  for  the  most 
part,  to  the  foreign  population  of  Egypt.  Ko 
effort  has  been  made  to  describe  or  enumerate 
such  institutions  or  the  several  congregations 
and  Churches  whose  ministry  is  to  others  than 
Egyptians. 


CHAPTEH  VIII 


MISSIONARY    AGENCIES 


Every  young  missionary  goes  to  his  field  of 
labor  with  certain  ideas  and  preconceptions  as 
to  the  character  of  missionary  work  and  life. 
Almost  every  young  missionary,  however,  ex- 
periences both  surprises  and  disappointments. 
It  is  not  that  he  was  entirely  misinformed  as  to 
the  general  methods  of  missionary  work  in  the 
foreign  field,  but  simply  that  each  field  has  its 
own  peculiar  conditions,  which  determine  the 
character  and  type  of  its  missionary  agencies. 
In  military  operations,  the  character  of  the 
country  and  the  strength  and  position  of  the 
enemy,  determine  whether  cavalry  or  infantry 
movements  will  be  more  effective;  whether  a 
charge  is  possible  or  whether  the  siege  grms  must 
be  brought  up  ;  whether  it  is  to  be  a  hand-to-hand 
fight,  or  a  bombardment  from  a  distance,  or  both. 
So,  too,  is  it  that  conditions  determine  whether, 
in  a  given  field,  one  method  is  preferable  to  an- 
other, and  whether  still  another  method  may  not 
need  to  be  barred  altogether. 

Missionary  methods  in  Egypt  are  not  alto- 
gether the  same  as  in  other  countries.  Bazaar 
preaching,  so  common  in  India,  is  not  found  in 
15  205 


Difference* 
in  Method*. 


206    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Egypt;  because  a  law  of  the  land  forbids 
preaching  in  the  streets.  While  in  India  close 
social  fellowship  between  the  missionary  and  the 
higher  heathen  classes  is  prevented  by  caste, 
there  is  no  such  restriction  in  Egypt,  and  chief 
officials,  Moslems  and  Copts,  have  repeatedly 
feasted  the  missionary  in  their  homes.  In  Cen- 
tral Africa,  among  the  black  tribes,  industrial 
work  is  perhaps  the  most  extensively  developed 
missionary  method ;  you  can  scarcely  find  it  used 
in  Egypt.  In  India,  the  missionary  goes  about 
among  the  villages,  taking  his  family  with  him 
and  living  in  tents.  In  Egypt,  the  railroad  is 
used  to  reach  larger  towns,  while  itinerating  by 
boat  is  the  common  method  of  reaching  the  vil- 
lages. In  some  fields,  the  missionary  is  engaged 
for  the  most  part  in  dealing  with  individuals. 
In  Egypt,  the  tendency  is  for  the  missionary  to 
become  an  administrator,  supervising  institu- 
tions. In  some  countries,  the  people  live  chiefly 
in  villages;  life  is  simple  and  plain,  not  only 
the  life  of  the  natives,  but  that  of  the  missionary, 
too ;  the  missionary's  home  life  is  under  constant 
inspection,  and  the  intercourse  with  natives 
makes  the  missionary's  home  and  family  life  an 
agency  of  no  inconsiderable  influence.  In 
Egypt,  the  population,  while  Agricultural,  is 
found,  to  a  greater  degree,  in  towns  and  good- 
sized  villages.     The  missionary,  who  is  usually 


Missionary  Agencies  207 

located  in  one  of  the  larger  centers,  lives  in  a 
"city  house/'  and  his  home  and  family  life  are 
not  so  subject  to  the  observation  of  the  native, 
owing  to  the  prevailing  conventionalities  of  city 
life.  In  China,  singing,  stereopticon  views  and 
other  appeals  to  curiosity,  are  used  to  gather  a 
crowd  for  a  meeting.  In  Egypt,  reliance  is 
chiefly  placed  on  the  advertisement  of  the  meet- 
ing by  notices  and  the  attraction  of  the  subject 
announced.  To  these  generalizations  many  ex- 
ceptions exist,  but  in  the  main  they  constitute 
noticeable  characteristics  of  missionary  methods 
in  the  Xile  Valley. 

The  chief  agents  in  missionary  work  in  Egypt  chiet 
are,  the  missionary,  the  colporteur,  the  evangel-  -^c*"*"* 
ist,  the  school  teacher,  the  harem  worker,  and 
the  native  pastor.  The  foreign  missionary's 
work  will  differ  according  as  we  are  speaking  of 
a  medical  missionary,  a  professor,  an  unmarried 
woman  missionary,  or  an  ordained  man.  The 
medical  missionary  works  along  distinctive 
lines,  as  we  shall  see  in  speaking  about  medical 
work.  So,  too,  is  it  with  the  professor,  who  is 
usually  at  the  head  of  some  department  in  a  col- 
lege. The  unmarried  woman  missionary  is 
most  commonly  in  charge  of  some  school,  while 
she  also  does,  and  superv^ises,  harem  work. 

The  work  of  the  ordained  missionary  is  a  The 
most  varied  work.       His  gifts  will  determine  M^ssi^ary. 


208    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

largely  the  special  assignment  of  work  which 
will  fall  to  him, — preaching,  teaching,  editing, 
keeping  accounts,  superintending  buildings, 
supervising  colporteur  work,  translating, — but 
there  is  every  likelihood  that,  whatever  his 
special  work,  he  will  have  to  do  some  work  un- 
der each  of  these  headings.  One  of  the  sur- 
prises and  trials  of  the  missionary  is  to  discover 
to  what  extent  secular  duties  encroach  upon  his 
time.  While  many  of  these  duties  are  vitally 
related  to  the  success  of  the  work  and  may  in- 
deed be  made  the  channels  for  exerting  whole- 
some influences  upon  other  lives,  yet  every  mis- 
sionary must  be  on  his  guard  lest  the  devotional 
and  spiritual  exercises  of  life  be  crowded  out, 
and  his  life  become  commonplace  and  secular. 
K^i°t*d'  ^^  follow  the  agents  of  missionary  work — the 
foreign  missionary,  the  colporteur,  the  evangel- 
ist, the  school  teacher,  the  harem  worker,  and 
the  native  pastor, — through  the  duties  of  a  day 
or  week,  would  afford  the  clearest  appreciation 
of  missionary  work  and  its  methods.  To  do 
this,  however,  would  require  more  space  than  is 
here  available,  and  would  also  involve  covering 
the  same  ground  more  than  once ;  for,  usually, 
the  colporteur  is  an  evangelist,  and  the  evangel- 
ist a  colporteur;  sometimes  both  the  missionary 
and  the  native  pastor  become  colporteurs,  evan- 
gelists^   or   school   teachers;    while   the   school 


Missionary  Agencies  209 

teacher  is  often  evangelist  and  pastor  pro  tern. 
We  may  avoid  such  repetition  by  considering 
missionary  work  in  Egypt  under  the  headings  of 
four  departments  or  methods  of  work,  Literary 
and     Colporteur,     Evangelistic,     Educational, 
Medical.       Some  methods  of  work  which  are 
here  grouped  under  the  heading  of  Evangelistic 
are  often  enumerated,  because  of  their  import- 
ance, alongside  of  these  that  have  been  named. 
But  they  are  more  logically  treated  as  Evangel- 
istic.   Harem  Work,  for  example,  is  really  only 
the  evangelistic  method   applied  to  the  social 
conditions  which  obtain  in  the  Moslem  world. 
It  is  important  to  remember  that  these  dif- 
ferent methods  bear  the  closest  relation  to  each 
other  in  their  practical  operations.     The  school 
is  ever  opening  up  new  homes  to  the  harem 
worker ;  the  harem  worker  is  ever  enlisting  new 
pupils  for  the  mission  school.     The  colporteur 
prospects  in  new  fields  for  the  missionary ;  the 
missionary  follows  up  opportunities  that  are  too 
far-reaching  for  the  colporteur. 

Literary  and  Colporteur  Worh 

We  begin  with  this  form  of  work,  because  the 
missionary  practically  begins  wath  it,  not  only 
in  Egypt,  but  everywhere.  Judson's  earliest 
efforts  were  literary ;  so  were  Carey's ;  so  were 


Translatioii. 


Dlstribation, 


210     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Henry  Martyn's.  Christianity  is,  in  one 
sense,  a  religion  of  the  Book.  The  first  task 
of  the  missionary  is  to  give  to  the  people  among 
whom  he  labors  the  Word  of  God,  or  portions 
of  it,  in  the  vernacular.  Having  translated 
the  Scriptures,  his  next  work  is  to  distribute 
them.  So  we  have  the  Literary  and  Colpor- 
teur work.  This  work  is  related  primarily  to 
the  Bible,  but  has  also  to  do  with  the  prepara- 
tion and  distribution  of  other  religious  books. 

While  some  books  have  been  translated  or 
written  by  missionaries  in  Egypt,  very  little  lit- 
erary work  has  been  done  by  them.  The  reason 
for  this  is  the  reliance  of  the  Mission  on  the 
Beirut  Printing  Press,  for  Bibles,  religious 
books,  and  tracts.  The  Press  at  Beirut,  Syria, 
has  been  a  missionary  agency  of  incalculable 
value,  in  Egypt  as  elsewhere  in  the  Levant. 
With  the  development  of  work  among  Moslems, 
a  new  importance  is  attached  to  literary  work. 
The  recent  Cairo  Conference  of  Workers  among 
Moslems  made  appeal  for  a  special  effort  to 
reach  Moslems  "by  organizing  more  efficiently 
the  production  and  distribution  of  literature  for 
Mohammedans."  In  the  providence  of  God, 
the  Nile  Mission  Press  also  came  into  existence, 
and  stands  ready  to  promote  such  work. 

The  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  and  other 
religious  literature,  however,  has  engaged  the  at- 


Missionary  Agencies  211 

tention  of  migsionaries  iu  Egypt,  and  rightly 
so.  (a)  The  Scriptures  find  common  accep- 
tance among  the  people  of  Egypt.  The  Copt.s 
believe  in  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God,  though 
they  may  know  little  of  its  teachings.  The 
Moslems,  as  we  have  seen,  are  theoretically  com- 
mitted to  the  Bible,  because  the  Koran  endorses 
both  the  Prophets  and  the  Gospels.  Then,  too, 
the  Oriental  is  a  firm  believer  in  divine  revela- 
tions and  inspired  records,  and  any  book  claim- 
ing to  be  given  of  God  is  held  in  reverence. 
(&)  The  x\merican  Bible  Society  and  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  have  stood 
ready  to  cooperate  with  the  missionaries  by  sub- 
stantial grants  to  aid  in  the  distribution  of  the 
Scriptures.  These  agencies,  after  many  years 
of  cooperation,  still  labor  in  Egypt,  (c)  This 
is  the  method  par  excellence  for  reaching  Mos- 
lems. It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  the  Koran, 
being  in  Arabic  only,  can  be  intelligible  to  but 
45,000,000  of  the  223,000,000  who  profess 
faith  in  its  teachings,  whereas  the  Bible  has 
been  translated  not  only  into  the  language  of 
these  45,000,000,  but  also  into  the  languages  of 
the  remaining  178,000,000.  The  distribution 
of  the  Scriptures  commends  itself  as  a  method 
of  dealing  with  Moslems,  because  it  disarms 
hostility  and  avoids  that  prejudice  which  the 
Moslem  usually  entertains  against  the  Christian 


Illustration 
of  Value. 


212    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

himself,  (d)  This  method  is  far-reaching  as 
no  other  method  is.  While  the  intellectual 
ability  of  the  colporteur  might  add  to  the  recep- 
tion which  the  Book  will  receive,  yet  here  is  a 
method  that  is,  to  a  great  extent,  independent  of 
the  human  agent  who  acts  as  intermediary  in  its 
operation.  To  hundreds  of  to^vns  and  villages, 
and  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  that  have 
never  seen  a  foreign  missionary,  the  message  is 
carried  through  the  printed  page,  distributed 
often  by  men  of  the  humblest  talents.  (e) 
This  method  of  work  opens  up  other  work. 
Again  and  again  have  the  colporteurs  of  the 
Mission  returned  to  report  special  religious 
interest  in  some  particular  town  or  village.  The 
result  has  been  a  visit  to  the  place  by  the  native 
evangelist  or  foreign  missionary,  resulting,  at 
times,  in  the  establishment  of  a  church. 

The  following  is  an  illustration  of  the  value 
and  success  of  work  done  by  colporteurs :  "Some 
time  ago  Feltus,  the  colporteur,  met  a  well-to-do 
Coptic  family  in  Shebas  Ameir.  They  were  very 
fanatical  and  reviled  him  and  his  book.  He 
said  little  in  reply,  but  a  few  days  later  he  met 
the  chief  man  of  the  family  at  the  railway  sta- 
tion. As  he  was  buying  his  ticket  the  man  said 
to  him,  'Why  buy  a  ticket  ?  There  is  no  need 
for  it.  If  you  give  a  present  to  the  conductor, 
be  will  let  you  ride  free/     The  colporteur  re' 


Missionary  Agencies  213 

plied  that  lie  would  not  be  dishonest  and  that 
he  never  did  that.  They  had  some  discussion 
about  the  principle,  until  finally  the  man  said, 
'If  Protestantism  teaches  such  honesty  as  that, 
it  is  a  good  thing.' 

"From  that  time,  he  was  a  friend  of  the  col- 
porteur and  the  latter  often  went  to  his  house. 
He  soon  found  both  the  man  and  his  wife  eager 
to  learn.  They  had  made  the  pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem,  thus  earning  the  title  'Haj'  (pil- 
grim), but  their  hearts  were  not  satisfied.  The 
colporteur  refused  to  argue  about  differences  of 
belief,  but  urged  them  to  study  the  Bible.  This 
they  did.  The  wife  came  to  the  Tanta  Mission 
Clinic,  and  remained  some  days  for  treatment. 
The  husband  also  came  to  Tanta,  and  attended 
church  services,  and  conversed  with  the  pastor. 

"A  little  later  they  invited  the  pastor  to  visit 
them  in  their  town,  and  to  hold  services  in  their 
house.  He  did  so,  and  this  was  probably 
the  first  Protestant  service  ever  held  in  the 
town.  At  the  next  communion,  the  man  and  his 
wife  united  with  the  Church  in  Tanta.  This 
was  six  months  ago.  They  have  been  faithful 
and  zealous  in  their  new  belief.  They  have 
religious  services  in  their  home  at  every  oppor- 
tunity, and,  with  some  of  their  friends,  they 
have  asked  that  one  evangelist  be  sent  there, 
and  have  agreed  to  pay  about  five  dollars  per 


Th«  Book 

Store. 


214    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

month  toward  his  support.  The  Presbytery  has 
appointed  a  preacher  to  the  town  for  six  months 
the  coming  year.  This  is  an  example  of  a 
family  being  won  and  a  community  opened  to 
the  Gospel  through  a  colporteur."  * 

The  Scriptures  and  other  religious  books  ar^ 
also  distributed  through  bookstores  located  at 
different  centers.  These  bookstores  serve  also 
as  reading  rooms,  and  a  native  or  foreign  worker 
will  be  on  duty  to  guide  the  interest  and  con- 
versation of  those  who  come.  An  incident  of 
unusual  interest  illustrates  the  possibilities  of 
such  bookstores  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel. 
We  summarize  briefly  the  events  which  precede 
the  incident.  A  Moslem  sheikh,  born  at  Fez,  in 
Morocco,  became  burdened  with  a  desire  to  ap- 
prehend truth  more  fully.  He  gave  himself  up 
to  fastings,  prayers,  mortifications  and  pilgrim- 
ages. He  visited  shrines  of  lesser  fame  and 
finally  went  to  Mecca.  He  stayed  there  five 
months  and  performed  all  the  duties  enjoined 
upon  a  pilgrim.  Still  he  found  no  peace.  He 
visited  the  Moslem  shrines  in  Palestine,  and  was 
at  Suez  on  his  way  home  again,  when  the  inci- 
dent referred  to  occurred.  He  himself  relates 
his  experiences: 

"After  spending  a  day  or  two  in  Suez,  greatly 
perplexed  in  my  mind,  and  not  knowing  what  it 

*  J.  G.  Hunt,  D.D.,  in  "  Aniual  Eeport,"  1903. 


Missionary  Agencies  215 

meant,  I  noticed,  as  I  passed  along  one  of  the 
street?,  a  place  open,  with  this  sign  written  above 
it,  'Food  For  The  Souls  Of  Men,'  and  on  the 
door  a  printed  paper.  I  went  up  to  read  it,  and 
found  written  these  words,  'Come  unto  Me,  all 
je  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest.'  I  was  astonished  at  the  saying, 
and  said  to  my  friend,  ^Who  can  the  owner  of 
this  place  be,  who  thinks  so  much  of  himself 
that  he  can  say  this  ?  Xo  one  can  use  words  like 
these  but  God,  the  Blessed.'  Then  my  compan- 
ion replied,  'Do  you  not  know  that  this  is  the 
land  of  the  Pharaohs?  This  man  is  probably 
the  0's\Tier  of  much  property,  and  is  so  puffed  up 
by  his  riches  and  greatness  that  be  says  this.' 

"We  passed  on,  but  the  words  of  that  saying 
remained  in  my  heart,  and  I  was  much  im- 
pressed thereby,  and  said  to  my  friend,  'I  must 
see  this  man  who  thinks  so  much  about  himself, 
and  find  out  about  him.'  So  at  noon  I  went  to 
the  place,  but  did  not  find  the  paper  outside; 
but  the  door  was  open,  and  inside  I  saw  two 
tables  with  books  on  them,  and  two  men  sitting 
talking.  My  companion  said  to  me,  ^I  sup- 
pose the  owner  of  the  place  has  lost  his  money, 
and  so  he  is  ashamed  to  put  out  the  sign  now.' 
I  said,  *I  must  enter  the  place  and  ask  about  it.* 
He  tried  to  dissuade  me,  saying  'We  are  stran- 
gers, and  it  would  not  be  polite  for  us  to  enter 


216     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

and  ask  questions.  Let  ns  go.'  But  I  said  I 
would  not  go  from  there  until  I  had  found  out 
the  truth  about  this  man  who  said,  'Come  unto 
Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest.'  So  we  went  in  and  saluted 
them,  and  they  returned  our  salutation  and  re- 
ceived us  kindly.  I  asked  them,  'What  do  you 
sell  here  V  They  replied,  'We  have  Holy  Books 
for  any  one  to  read,  and  also  to  buy  if  they 
wish.'  I  said,  'What  are  the  Holy  Books  V  For 
I  thought  they  meant  the  Koran,  or  the  Moslem 
Commentaries.  They  replied,  'They  are  the  Old 
and  ISTew  Testament — the  Torah,  and  Zabur, 
and  Injil.'  I  asked  to  be  allowed  to  read  them, 
and  they  gave  me  a  book,  and  we  read  and 
talked  until  sunset.  My  companion  was  very 
angry  at  our  conversation,  and  got  up,  saying  to 
me,  'Come  away,  and  let  us  pray  the  sunset 
prayers.'  And  although  we  were  in  the  midst 
of  our  conversation,  I  was  obliged  to  go. 

"I  could  not  touch  my  supper  that  night,  and, 
saying  nothing  to  any  one  about  what  was  in  my 
heart,  I  slipped  off  alone  to  that  place,  and 
meeting  one  of  the  men,  asked  him  to  finish  the 
conversation  we  had  been  interrupted  in.  The 
subject  was  about  Christ  being  the  Son  of  God, 
and  the  meaning  of  the  Cross  of  Calvary,  and 
till  late  that  night  we  talked,  arranging,  ere  we 
parted,  to  meet  early  on  the  morrow.     All  that 


Missionary  Agencies  217 

night  I  remained  in  a  state  of  tumult,  and  next 
morning  found  me  at  the  door  of  the  place  at  6 
o'clock,  although  we  had  not  arranged  to  meet 
until  8  o'clock.  "We  spent  the  day  eagerly  eon- 
versing,  until  my  companion  became  aware  of 
what  was  happening,  and  a  severe  quarrel  took 
place  between  us.  Eventually,  I  sent  him  off 
to  Cairo,  and  from  there  home.  That  left  me 
free  to  study  the  Bible,  and  hear  about  Christ, 
until  I  was  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  truth, 
which  became  clear  to  me  as  the  sun  at  mid-day, 
and  I  believed.  My  conscience  has  found  rest 
from  what  has  always  troubled  me  in  it,  and  I 
know  that  there  is  to  man  one  Saviour  and  In- 
tercessor, and  one  only,  Who  has  redeemed  me 
by  His  precious  Blood,  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  Him 
be  the  glory  for  ever  and  ever !"  * 

To  the  itinerating  colporteur  and  the  book-  RaUg^oas 

1  •  1111  1-  Papers. 

store,  there  is  to  be  added  as  a  literary  agency 
for  disseminating  religious  information,  the 
periodical,  such  as  the  weekly  or  monthly  paper. 
Here  we  have  the  Murshid  of  the  American 
Mission,  chiefly  for  Christians;  the  Orient  and 
Occident,  of  the  C.  M.  S.  Mission,  aiming  to 
reach  Moslems ;  and  a  monthly  magazine  pub- 
lished by  the  Egypt  Mission  Band,  also  for  Mos- 
lems. 

•  "The  Story  of  a  Moslem  Sheikh/'  Egypt  General  MisBion. 


218    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Evangelistic  Worh 

All  missionary  work  aims  to  be  evangelistic, 
aims  to  proclaim  the  Gospel.  But  the  term  is 
here  applied  to  those  forms  of  missionary  work 
in  which  the  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  is  direct 
and  not  united  with  some  special  privilege  or 
advantage  which  thus  secures  for  it  an  entrance. 
This  direct  presentation  of  the  Gospel  is  made 
in  three  ways:  by  the  foreign  or  native  evan- 
gelist, by  the  native  pastor,  and  by  the  harem 
worker. 

The  evangelist  may  be  a  native,  in  which  case 
he  usually  is  a  colporteur  as  well  as  an  evangel- 
ist. Books  are  a  very  good  means  of  introduc- 
tion even  for  an  evangelist,  while  they  may  con- 
tinue their  preaching  after  he  has  left.  The 
evangelist  may  also  be  a  foreign  missionary. 
Every  opportunity  for  doing  "personal  work" 
will  be  a  part  of  his  calling  as  an  evangelist. 
The  favorite  and  most  successful  way  of  doing 
evangelistic  work  in  the  early  decades  of  recent 
missionary  work  was  by  means  of  the  Nile  boat, 
such  as  the  "Ibis"  of  the  American  United  Pres- 
byterian Mission. 
Therbis.  a^  short  account  of  this  swift  messenger 
should  be  preserved.  Its  record,  possibly,  sur- 
passes that  of  any  other  craft  that  ever  graced 
the  waters  of  the  wondrous  Nile  during  all  the 
dynasties  of  Egypt.     It  was  built  for   Sa'id 


^V.  jlSlliS^  ■ 


|>(r     1'    m  Wit   6     .£ 


'jiU)t£ 


V.     •.-. 


MISSIONARY    AGENCIES 
Assiut  Hospital 
The  Ibis 


Missionary  Agencies  219 

Pasha  and  according  to  his  directions.  He  was 
the  Viceroy  of  Egypt  in  the  later  fifties  and  in 
the  early  sixties.  He  was  a  trained  naval  of- 
ficer, and  had  knowledge  of  ships.  He  was  fond 
of  excitement  and  adventure,  and  had  a  mania* 
for  rapid  transit.  He  gave  his  boat  the  name  of 
the  sacred  bird  of  the  country.  He  intended  it 
to  outsail  everything  of  its  kind.  He  had  it 
fitted  for  carrying  more  than  the  ordinary 
spread  of  canvas,  and  planned  to  help  its  move- 
ments by  a  small  steam  engine.  That  adjunct 
was  never  supplied.  Sa'id  Pasha,  and  the 
world,  had  no  thought  at  that  time  that  God 
Himself  designed  the  boat  for  His  o^vn  service 
and  glory.  The  Viceroy  soon  sold  it  to  parties 
who  were  willing  to  resell  it  at  a  moderate  price. 
Its  desirability  for  the  use  of  the  Mission  was 
well  known.  Messrs.  McCague,  Lansing  and 
Hogg  put  their  purses  together,  bartered  their 
credits,  and  purchased  the  boat  for  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars.  That  must  have  been  only  a  small 
part  of  its  original  cost.  It  was  the  plan  of  the 
new  owners  to  let  the  boat  to  tourists  in  the  win- 
ter and  get  money  in  that  way  for  using  it  at 
other  times  in  Mission  work.  This  plan  was 
carried  out  for  some  years. 

"Expeditions  started  from  Cairo.  There  was 
always  a  large  equipment  of  Scriptures  and 
books.     All  possible  information  in  regard  to 


220    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

the  partially  explored  field  was  sought  and 
noted.  There  was  no  lightness  in  the  under- 
taking. Experience  soon  taught  us  to  lose  no 
breezes  while  we  were  going  up  the  river.  If 
we  were  becalmed,  work  was  done  in  places 
that  could  be  reached.  Sometimes  a  good  rest 
was  enjoyed.  In  preparing  for  a  return,  all  the 
sails,  except  a  small  one,  were  put  in  the  hold, 
and  the  mast  was  lowered.  The  downward  trip 
was  made  by  current  and  oar;  stoppage  could 
easily  be  made  wherever  that  was  desired.  The 
Ibis  soon  became  known  all  along  the  river.  The 
report  of  its  movements  preceded  it.  At  many 
towns,  it  would  scarce  be  moored  before  an  inter- 
ested crowd  would  be  gathered,  and  work  would 
begin  without  delay.  Land  trips  were  often 
made  to  towns  located  far  from  the  river.  The 
work  was  inspiring.  The  manifest  need  of 
the  people  for  the  bread  of  life  could  not  fail  to 
cause  interest.  The  eagerness  with  which 
many  of  them  purchased  Scriptures  and  relig- 
ious books  and  listened  to  the  reading  and 
simple  exposition  of  the  Word  of  God  by  native 
helper  and  by  missionary,  was  cheering  evidence 
that  the  Master  was  fulfilling  His  precious 
promises." 

"After  their  happy  and  romantic  marriage  in 
Egypt,  the  Maharajah  Dhulip  Singh  and  Bam- 
ba  spent  some  months  in  England.     The  new 


Missionary  Agencies  221 

home  had  many  attractions  and  charms,  but 
tiot  enough  to  check  the  desire  for  a  return  to 
Egypt  to  spend  the  winter  on  the  Nile.  For 
this  a  boat  was  needed.  The  Maharajah  was 
pleased  w^ith  the  Ibis.  He  reimbursed  the 
owners  and  became  its  possessor.  Before  re- 
turning to  England,  a  few  months  later,  he  gave 
orders  for  full  repairs  of  the  boat  and  a  remod- 
eling of  the  interior.  The  cost  of  all  this  was 
more  than  double  the  purchase  price.  He  never  , 
returned  to  Egypt,  but  in  1874  he  donated  the 
Ibis  to  the  'fund  for  building  and  endowing 
Assiut  Training  College.'  It  is  still  serving  the 
Mission  and  the  Master."  *  _  j;;ej;ati.e 

The  native  Evangelical  congregation  is  also  ^.^^^ 
an  evangelistic  agency.  While  Christians  are 
being  built  up  in  the  faith  and  instructed  in 
righteousness,  the  Gospel  message  is  directed 
also  at  those  who  have  not  yet  accepted  Christ. 
The  effectiveness  of  the  native  congregations  as 
evangelistic  agencies  is  proved  by  the  fact,  that, 
according  to  the  last  Report  af  the  United  Pres- 
byterian congregations  in  Egypt,  two-thirds  of 
the  professions  reported  for  the  entire  country 
during  a  whole  year  are  to  be  credited  to  native 
congregations  regularly  established.  ^     workT 

The  harem  worker  is  another  important  mis- 
sionary agent  working  along  evangelistic  lines. 

♦  Rev.  S.  C.  Ewine,  D.  D.,  in  "Annual  Report,"  1905. 

16 


222     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Eemembering  the  seclusion  of  Moslem  women 
and  their  inaccessibility  to  men,  the  need  for 
harem  work  will  be  realized.  It  is  a  great  work 
to  carry  tlie  Gospel  each  year  right  into  the 
homes  of  some  three  thousand  women,  in  Egypt. 
This  work  involves  reading  and  explaining 
the  Scriptures  to  the  inmates  of  the  home 
visited.  Often  the  opportunity  is  widened 
through  the  presence  of  visitors.  Where  it  is 
possible,  the  work  goes  farther  and  prayer  is 
both  offered  and  taught.  On  such  an  occasion, 
a  Coptic  woman  said  in  surprise,  "Do  you 
mean  to  say  that  we  can  pray  to  God 
quite  alone?  Is  it  not  necessary  to  pray  to  a 
saint  or  to  the  Virgin?"  On  a  similar  occa- 
sion, a  "Moslem  woman  remarked,  "See,  they 
pray  for  everybody.  You  would  not  find  a 
Moslem  doing  that."  Where  there  is  opportun- 
ity, the  work  goes  farther,  and  women  are  will- 
ing to  take  regular  lessons  and  learn  to  read. 
Thirty  years  ago,  Miss  Martha  J.  McKown 
WTote  from  Assiut,  "It  is  now  nearly  ten  years  ^ 
since  I  first  came  to  Upper  Egypt.  There  was 
not  at  that  time,  as  far  as  we  know,  a  single  girl 
in  school  or  a  woman  who  knew  how  to  read." 
There  are  in  that  same  town^  to-day,  480  women 
who  are  under  regular  instruction  and  hun- 
dreds of  others  who  have  already  learned  to 
read. 


Missionary  Agencies  223 

Sometimes    the    interest    fioes    farther,    and  i^rogresa 

•1  1  T  Among 

hoiise-to-hoiise  meetings  are  possible.  ''It  has  women. 
been  most  encouraging  and  surprising,"  says  a 
recent  report  of  such  work,  "to  see  the  most 
timid  rising  to  pray  or  to  read  some  passage  they 
have  selected.  On  the  last  occasion,  seven  led 
in  prayer  and  five  or  six  read." 

The  work  has  even  gone  farther  and  definite 
accessions  to  the  Church  have  resulted.  Of 
course,  among  Moslems  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible for  a  woman  to  make  such  a  confession  of 
her  faith.  The  day  was,  when  elders  of  some  of 
the  Protestant  congregations  debated  seriously 
whether  women  could  be  admitted  to  Church 
membership  without  degrading  the  Church  and 
lowering  its  standards.  To-day  there  are  over 
8,950  women  in  the  membership  of^he  Protes- 
tant Church  in  Egypt,  and  an  instance  is  on 
record  where  the  women  hold  a  midweek  jneet- 
ing  separate  from  the  men,  using,  however,  the 
same  topic.  They  place  their  outline  of  the 
subject  on  the  blackboard,  and  when  they  are 
through,  they  leave  it  for  the  help  of  the  men  at 
their  meeting. 

This  work  among  women  is  most  valuable  in 
breaking  down  pernicious  social  customs.  It  is 
an  acknowledged  fact,  that  in  every  country 
social  and  religious  traditions  strike  their  deep- 
est roots  into  the  life  of  womanhood.    No  coun- 


^24     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

try  can  free  itself  from  the  tyranny  of  such  cus- 
toms until  the  womanhood  of  that  country  is  in- 
fluenced. Harem  work  has  had  a  remarkable 
influence  along  those  lines  in  Egypt.  The  follow- 
ing incident  is  scarcely  a  year  old. 
Mourning  From  the  town  of  Girgeh  an  urgent  request 
was  sent  to  Assiut  lor  a  harem  worker,  in  a 
wealthy  home  in  Girgeh,  ''the  mother  had  given 
herself  up  to  the  most  violent  and  extravagant 
grief,  and  those  familiar  with  the  wild  confusion 
of  the  first  days  of  mourning  in  a  bigoted  and 
conservative  Coptic  harem,  can  fully  sympa- 
thize with  the  irrgency  of  the  appeal  of  the  men 
of  the  house  for  help.  A  friend  of  the  family, 
who  was  visiting  in  Assiut,  was  ordered  to  re- 
main until  the  request  for  the  harem  worker  was 
complied  with.  Telegrams  followed  each  other 
in  rapid  sucoeseion,  reiterating  the  plea,  and 
offering  all  the  help  that  money  could  give  to 
wipe  away  difficulties.  At  last,  a  blind 
Bible  woman  was  found  willing  to  undertake  the 
task.  She  set  out,  with  many  misgivings,  into 
the  imtried  and  unknown.  Her  welcome  was  all 
that  could  have  been  desired.  From  the  first, 
she  won  a  respectful  hearing  from  the  crowd 
that  thronged  the  house,  and  so  great  was  her 
influence  over  the  mother  and  relatives,  that  they 
almost  immediately  modified  their  customs  to 
the  extent  of  having  only  two  formal  weepings 


Missionary  Agencies  225 

in  the  day  and  none  on  Sabbatli.  This  was  an 
innovation  undreamed  of  in  Girgeh,  which  is 
noted  for  the  cruelty  of  its  mourning  customs. 
Every  day,  she  read  and  taught  and  prayed  with 
the  family  alone,  and  with  those  who  gathered  to 
weep ;  and  when  death  entered  another  influen- 
tial house  in  the  neighborhood,  she  was  bor- 
rowed by  them  to  do  the  same  work  of  mercy 
she  had  accomplished  in  the  first  house." 

Educational  Worh 

The  educational  method  has  been  the  domin-  5**"*?* 
ating  method  in  missionary  work  in  Egypt.  Its  work. 
advantages  are  evident :  (a)  It  lays  hold  of  life 
at  the  beginning  instead  of  at  the  end.  It  seeks 
to  save  life  not  only  for  the  world  to  come,  but 
also  for  the  present  world,  (h)  It  seeks  to  in- 
fluence life  at  the  most  impressionable  age. 
Statistics  show  that  in  our  own  country  the 
greatest  number  of  conversions  have  taken  place 
at  the  ages  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years.  A  Tamil 
proverb  says,  "That  which  did  not  bend  at  five 
will  not  be  bent  at  fifty."  (r)  It  makes  pos- 
sible the  exercise  of  continuous  and  sustained  in- 
fluence. The  weekly  meeting,  or  even  a  series 
of  evangelistic  meetings,  can  scarcely  compare 
with  the  educational  method  in  this  respect.  For 
weeks  at  a  time  and  for  five  or  six  days  in  the 


226     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

week,  and  for  several  hours  each  day,  the  young 
life  is  brought  under  the  influence  of  a  Christian 
atmosphere  and  each  day  receives  some  definite 
instruction  in  Christian  truth.  Where  the 
school  is  a  boarding  school,  the  influence  upon 
life  is  very  much  greater.  Here  the  young  life 
is  completely  freed,  at  least  temporarily,  from 
the  compelling  power  of  home  influences,  (d) 
The  educational  method  also  disarms  prejudice. 
fThe  Moslem  and  the  Copt  are  quite  willing  to 
have  their  children  enjoy  the  secular  and  moral 
training  of  a  Christian  school.  As  they  come  to 
the  school  for  such  training,  it  is  possible  to  show 
them  there  what  their  prejudice  forbids  their 
seeing  elsewhere, — that  the  intellectual  quick- 
ening and  the  moral  quality  of  Western  civiliza- 
tion are  rooted  in  the  religious  faith  of  the 
West,  (e)  In  addition  to  whatever  general  ad- 
vantages the  educational  method  possesses,  it 
possesses  to-day,  and  especially  did  it  possess 
fifty  years  ago,  a  signal  advantage  as  a  mission- 
ary method,  because  of  its  necessity.  With  the 
awful  illiteracy  which  prevails  even  to-day,  and 
which  prevailed  to  a  greater  degree  a  half  cen- 
tury ago,  the  missionary  could  not  realize  his 
own  spiritual  aims  without  educating  the  people. 
Christianity  and  ignorance  are  diametrically 
opposed  to  each  other,  and  the  illiteracy  of  the 
people  is  a  part  of  the  Christian  missionary's 


Missionary  Agencies  227 

problem.  On  the  other  hand,  this  condition  of 
illiteracy  and  the  absence  of  other  schools  gave 
unusual  prestige  and  prominence,  especially  in 
earlier  days,  to  missionary  educational  institu- 
tions. 

These,  and  probably  other,  reasons  led  to  the 
extension  of  the  educational  work,  until  we  ar- 
rive to-day  at  the  respectable  total  of  198 
schools  operated  by  the  different  evangelical 
missions  in  Egypt,  and  having  an  enrolment  of 
16,575  students. 

While  these  schools  impart  secular  education.  Missionary 
it  is  important  to  remember  that  their  justifica-  ^''"• 
tion  from  a  missionary  point  of  view  lies  in 
the  fact  that  they  are  the  means  of  bringing 
souls  into  the  kingdom.  The  mission  school 
has  been,  in  missionary  work  in  Egypt,  an  evan- 
gelizing agency.  The  Scriptures  have  generally 
served  as  primer  and  reader,  and,  with  the 
knowledge  of  reading,  the  scholars  receive  a 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel  story.  The  mission 
teacher  has  usually  been  a  sort  of  preacher  and 
evangelist,  and  after  school  hours  the  mission 
building  has  often  become  a  meeting  house,  and 
the  school  teacher  has  expounded  the  Word  of 
God  to  the  parents  of  scholars. 

That  mission  schools  in  the  past  have  served  pouege. 
the    missionary    purpose    for    which    they  are 
established,  is  proved  by  fifty  years  of  history. 


228     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Tbe  College  at  Asslut  is,  perhaps,  the  most  con- 
spicuous example  of  a  strong  Christian  college. 
Its  record  is  truly  a  remarkable  one.  It  has 
liad  under  its  influence,  during  its  establishment, 
4,000  different  individuals.  About  200  have 
taken  the  full  course  and  graduated.  Of  these 
Avho  graduated,  seventy  are  ministers  in  the 
native  Protestant  Church  in  Egypt.  Of  the  288 
men  school  teachers  in  Protestant  schools  in 
Egypt,  200  had  their  training  in  this  College. 
In  one  year  alone,  recently,  about  100,  mostly 
undergraduates,  went  from  the  College  to  teach 
in  village  schools. 

The  Christian  influences  which  dominate  the 
life  of  this  College  are  very  strong.  The  Col- 
lege Christian  Union  is  an  aggressive  organiza- 
tion, and  labors  definitely  to  bring  students  to 
Christ.  Sixty-two  students  made  a  public  pro- 
fession of  their  faith  in  Christ  during  a  recent 
year;  thirty-five  during  another  year.  Seventy 
of  the  members  of  the  Union  have  pledged  them- 
selves to  some  form  of  Christian  work.  General 
contributions  to  religious  work  amount  to  about 
$500,  while,  in  addition  to  this,  half  the  support 
of  a  native  missionary  in  the  Sudan  has  been  as- 
sumed by  the  Christian  students  of  the  College. 

A  less  easily  defined,  and  yet  an  equally  real, 
service  which  the  Educational  Work  has  rend- 
ered to  the  cause  of  Christianity  in  the  Nile  Val- 


Missionary  Agencies  229 

ley,  is  to  win  for  it  respect  and  honor  from 
those  in  government  service.  A  number  of  testi- 
monials of  officials  are  on  record. 

W.  S.  Charteris,  Bey,  Deputy  Postmaster- 
General  in  Egypt:  "You  did  me  the  honor  to 
ask  what  I  thought  of  the  work  of  the  American 
Mission  in  Upper  Egypt  as  bearing  on  the  pro- 
gress made  in  this  country  during  the  past  few 
years.  It  is  not  for  me  to  speak  of  the  great 
moral  and  intellectual  good  your  work  has  done, 
and  is  doing  among  the  natives,  but  I  consider  it 
a  great  privilege  to  say,  that  I  have  long  felt  that 
it  is  in  a  great  part  owing  to  the  labors  of  your 
Mission  that  the  administration  I  am  connected 
with  has  been  so  favorably  spoken  of  by  the 
numerous  tourists  who  frequent  Upper  Egypt, 
and  who  see  the  work  of  Post  Offices  in  the 
smallest  villages  as  well  as  in  the  larger  centers." 

E.  A.  Floyer,  Inspector  General  of  Egyptian 
Telegraph  Service :  "I  am  very  glad  to  say  what 
I  think  about  your  educational  methods  in 
Egypt.  They  have  been  of  the  greatest  possible 
help  to  me  in  organizing  a  staff  for  my  work. 
When  I  began  work  in  Egypt  in  1878,  I  quickly 
realized  that  the  first  essential  was  to  instruct 
and  bring  up  a  new  staff  ah  ovo.  The  Govern- 
ment schools,  now  in  such  thorough  efficiency, 
were  fallen  into  the  same  decay  which  then  char- 
acterized every  Department.     I  established  my 


Testlmo- 
nialH. 


tions. 


230    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Telegraph  scliools  and  searched  for  likely  re- 
cruits. I  drew  from  the  Ecole  de  Freres^  from 
Miss  Whately's,  and  from  the  American  Mis- 
sion. There  is  no  question  that  the  lads  from 
the  latter  had  a  real  business  education." 

Heshmat  Pasha,  Egyptian  Governor  of  the 
Province  of  Assiut :  "  I  am  able  to  say  that 
both  the  city  of  Assiut  and  the  whole  Pro- 
vince have  derived  a  very  great  deal  of  help 
from  the  presence  of  this  institution.  Through 
its  influence  thousands  of  our  young  men  have 
been  trained  into  chaste  and  noble  character. 
Many  of  these  have  entered  the  school  from  most 
humble  homes,  often  indeed  from  homes  of  pov- 
erty, and  they  are  now  living  in  comfortable  and 
honorable  stations  of  life.  Some  are  occupying 
positions  of  trust  in  the  Government  both  in 
Egypt  and  the  Sudan,  others  have  entered  busi- 
ness life  and  agriculture,  and  others  have  be- 
come educators  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel. 
And  I  have  become  thoroughly  convinced  of  the 
excellent  life  and  fidelity  of  every  one  of  them 
with  whom  I  have  become  personally  acquaint- 
ed. In  closing,  I  desire  to  repeat  that  this  in- 
stitution has  been  and  is  indeed  a  great  blessing 
to  the  whole  Province  of  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  be  Governor." 

Lord  Cromer's  testimony  has  been  given  in  an 
earlier  chapter. 


Missionary  Agencies  231 

In  recent  years,  however,  the  success  of  the 
educational  method  has  been  more  limited. 
This  is  almost  entirely  due  to  the  fact,  that  keen 
competition  has  arisen  in  the  educational  world. 
On  the  one  hand,  there  is  the  government  educa- 
tional policy  which  threatens  to  secularize  the 
Christian  schools.  Studies  required  by  govern- 
ment standards  make  it  more  and  more  difficult 
to  give  a  large  place  to  religious  teaching,  even 
in  Christian  schools.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
cost  of  living  in  Egypt  has  increased  and  the 
standards  of  education  have  been  heightened. 
Thus,  increased  cost  of  living  makes  the  educa- 
tional method  relatively  more  expensive  while, 
at  the  same  time,  the  raised  standards  of  educa- 
tion and  the  pressure  of  required  studies,  make 
it  a  less  effective  method  of  work. 

These  considerations  have  raised  the  question, 
whether  a  change  of  method  is  not  called  for. 
Egypt  must  be  evangelized.  The  educational 
method  of  evangelization,  while  effective,  in- 
volves too  great  a  cost  to  permit,  without  almost 
unlimited  resources,  of  its  general  and  universal 
extension  to  so  wide  a  field  as  must  be  occupied 
in  Egypt.  May  not  prayer,  patience  and  conse- 
crated planning  devise  some  other  less  expensive, 
but  equally  effective  method  ? 


Medical 
Work. 


232    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 


Medical  Worh 

It  is  strange  that  uot  until  recent  years  did 
medical  work  occupy  a  large  place  in  missions 
in  Egypt.  Yet  this  method  is  acknowledged  to 
be  one  of  the  best  for  work  among  Moslems.  It 
may  be  that  the  success  of  educational  work  ab- 
sorbed the  attention  of  the  missions.  The  im- 
portant question,  after  all,  in  missionary  work, 
is  not  what  method  is  used,  but  whether  access 
is  really  gained  to  the  lives  of  the  people,  for  the 
presentation  of  the  Gospel. 

In  the  early  efforts  of  the  Moravians,  we  find 
that  Dr.  Ilocker's  medical  services  often  gained 
him  an  entrance  and  secured  favors  for  him,  and 
even  for  his  fellow  missionaries.  The  first  med- 
ical missionary  of  the  American  Mission  in 
Egypt  was  Dr.  D.  R.  Johnston,  who  went  to 
Egypt  in  1868;  while  Dr.  F.  J.  Harper  began 
medical  work  for  the  C.  M.  S.  Mission  in  1888. 

Medical  work  may  be  carried  on  in  three 
ways:  by  itinerating,  by  clinics,  by  hospitals. 
The  first  is  the  least,  and  the  last  is  the  most, 
localized.  The  ideal  is  to  have  all  three 
methods.  Only  in  recent  years  has  medical 
work  been  carried  on  by  means  of  hospitals.  The 
advantages  of  the  hospital  are,  that  cases  of 
greater  gravity  may  there  be  cared  for ;  that  the 


Missionary  Agencies  233 

missionary  has  a  better  opportunity  for  vindica- 
ting his  medical  skill,  and  thus  gaining  the  con- 
fidence of  a  community;  and  that  the  hospital 
affords  a  better  opportunity  for  imparting  a 
knowledge  of  Christ  and  reaping  a  spiritual 
harvest. 

There  are  in  Egypt  four  missionary  hospitals, 
the  Assiut  Hospital,  of  the  American  United 
Presbyterian  Mission;  the  Martha  J.  McKown 
Hospital,  of  the  same  Mission,  and  supported  by 
the  Women's  Board  of  the  Church  in  America ; 
and  two  Church  Missionary  Society  Hospitals  at 
Cairo.  Two  of  these  hospitals  are  for  women, 
— the  Hospital  at  Tanta,  and  the  Ethel  Pain 
Memorial  Hospital  of  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  in  Cairo. 

As  an  example  of  the  development  of  medical  Assiut 
missionary  work,  the  Assiut  Hospital  may  be  in-  Hospital 
stanced.  This  hospital  reports  2123  in-patients 
in  1905,  besides  19,600  clinic  cases.  It  is  self- 
supporting,  apart  from  the  salaries  of  the  for- 
eign missionaries.  The  name  of  the  founder  of 
the  hospital.  Dr.  V.  M.  Henry,  is  known  and 
loved  throughout  Upper  Egypt.  Eecently  when 
he  was  ill,  it  was  reported  that  even  the  Moslems 
were  praying  for  his  recovery. 

Touching  so  many  lives  and  gaining  such  an 
influence  upon  them,  the  vital  question  with  ref- 
erence to  every  hospital  is,  whether  or  not  this 


234     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

wide  opportunity  which  it  enjoys,  and  this  pow- 
erful influence  which  it  exerts,  are  being  used 
for  the  presentation  of  Christ  to  every  patient. 
It  is  so  easy  for  medical  work,  as  for  educational 
work,  to  become  secularized.  It  is  so  easy  for  a 
medical  missionary  to  shrink  into  a  mere  doctor, 
forgetting  that  he  is  a  missionary.  However, 
the  reports  of  these  hospitals  testify  to  their  en- 
deavors and  their  successes  along  missionary,  as 
well  as  medical,  lines. 

Each  day,  morning  prayers  encourage  a 
Christ-ward  look.  Then,  during  the  day,  among 
patients  whose  condition  will  permit  it,  the 
Bible-reader  of  the  hospital  goes,  telling  of  the 
Great  Physician.  Most  effective  of  all,  however, 
is  the  'Svord  in  season"  which  the  doctor  him- 
self speaks  to  the  patient.  Unless  a  strong  mis- 
sionary purpose  characterize  the  doctor,  it  mat- 
ters not  how  devoted  the  nurses  and  Bible-read- 
ers are,  the  spiritual  influences  of  the  work  will 
be  weak. 

A  recent  report  tells  of  a  Moslem  girl  under 
treatment  for  necrosis  of  the  ribs.  She  told  the 
story  of  her  spiritual  experience  as  follows :  "A 
Shining  One  came  and  touched  my  hand,  saying, 
^Gamela  (meaning  "beautiful"),  all  your  sins 
are  forgiven.  I  have  taken  them  away.  lN"ow 
you  are  clean.'  I  feared  at  first,  but  He  was  so 
gentle,  I  wanted  to  see  Him  agai^."     And  the 


Keacliii- 


Missionary  Agencies  235 

missionary  adds  in  the  report,  "The  smile  upon 
her  face  was  so  peaceful  after  her  moaning  and 
crying,  that  her  words  seemed  true." 

The  results  of  medical  work  are  not  easily  influences 
traced,  as  the  lives  that  are  influenced  are  scat- 
tered over  a  wide  area.  Xow  and  again,  the  in- 
fluence of  medical  work  comes  to  light  in  a  place 
far  removed  from  the  hospital.  A  native  pas- 
tor, reporting  his  work  during  a  preceding  year, 
says:  *'I  have  visited  a  village  where  there  are 
three  Protestants.  The  first  of  these  was  a 
woman  converted  at  the  Assiut  Hospital.  While 
Dr.  Henry  treated  her,  he  talked  to  her  of 
Christ.  God  blessed  his  words,  and  she  returned 
home  full  of  the  grace  of  God.  She  has  been 
doing  the  work  of  an  evangelist  in  her  household 
and  village.  She  has  been  the  means  of  two 
men  being  converted.  She  has  learned  to  read 
and  write,  and  has  taught  some  of  lier  family. 
Morning  and  evening,  she  gathers  them  to- 
gether for  reading  and  prayer." 

The  localized  work  is  likely  to  receive  so 
much  attention,  that  no  opportunity  is  left  for 
medical  work  away  from  the  main  station.  Yet 
two  considerations  urge  work  at  out-stations. 
One  is  the  advertisement  more  widely  of  the 
hospital;  the  other,  is  the  needs  of  those  who 
cannot  come  to  a  hospital  for  treatment.  Medi- 
cal work,  away  from  the  hospital,  may  be  car- 


236     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

ried  on  by  clinics,  or  by  itinerating.  The  clinic 
takes  less  time,  for  the  doctor  may  go  by  rail 
twice  a  week  to  some  neighboring  town  and  hold 
a  clinic,  treating  hundreds  every  month.  Clin- 
ics are  usually  opened  at  larger  towns.  There 
are,  therefore,  still  the  smaller  towms  and  the 
villages.  These  can  be  reached  by  itinerating, 
and,  in  Egypt,  the  ISTile  Boat  is  a  great  agency 
in  such  work.  This  furnishes  the  missionary 
with  a  clean  and  comfortable  home,  while  almost 
all  sections  of  the  country  may  be  thus  reached 
by  water. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  has  developed 
most  effectively  this  method  of  itinerating  by 
boat,  doing  medical  missionary  work.  Some  de- 
lightful sketches  of  this  work  are  to  be  found  in 
"River,  Sand  and  Sun"  by  Minna  C.  Gollock. 


CHAPTER  IX 


FINAL  VIOTOEY 


In  every  ffreat  movement  there  are  three  es-  r.Hsentiais 

^  .      ,  of  success. 

sentials  to  success.  There  must  be  a  conviction 
of  tlie  possibility  of  success.  There  must  also 
be  an  adequate  appreciation  of  the  magnitude 
and  character  of  the  task  to  be  performed. 
And,  finally,  those  things  must  be  done  and  those 
resources  provided  by  which  success  can  be 
achiered.  Three  similar  factors  condition  a 
favorable  issue  for  the  missionary  enterprise  in 
the  land  of  Egypt.  In  this  concluding  chapter, 
therefore,  the  encouraging  results  of  past  efforts, 
the  work  yet  remaining  to  be  done,  and  the  re- 
quirements of  the  missionary  movement,  will 
be  brought  into  review. 


Results 

Ave  the  results  of  past  efforts  such  as  to  war- 
rant belief  in  the  possibility  of  ultimate  success 
for  the  missionary  enterprise  ?  The  answer  can 
be  given  from  several  points  of  view. 

1.     Numbers:    From  the   point  of  view  of  Numbers, 
mere  numbers,  the  results  are  startling.     Re- 
membering the  strength  of  the  enemy,  the  dog- 
17  237 


238    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

matism  of  the  Coptic  Church  and  the  fanatical 
opposition  of  Islam ;  remembering  the  absence 
of  pomp  and  prestige  characterizing  missionary 
agencies,  the  numerical  insignificance  of  these 
agencies  and  the  limitation  of  their  material  re- 
sources; remembering,  finally,  the  power  of  re- 
ligious prejudice,  the  influence  of  public  opin- 
ion, the  strong  grip  of  social  customs,  all  of  these 
hostile  to  the  missionary  movement;  is  it  not 
marvelous  that  a  record  of  numerical  growth 
can  be  presented  such  as  marks  the  membership 
of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Egypt  ?  It  reads, 
in  periods  of  five  years  since  1854,  as  follows: 
0—4— 69  — 180— 596— 985— 1688— 2971— 
4554—6379—8639.* 

The  increase  of  the  population  from  1846  to 
1882  was  52  per  cent.  The  increase  of  the  Pro- 
testant Church  membership  from  1859 — when 
the  first  four  converts  were  received — to  1882 
is  29100  per  cent.  The  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion from  1882  to  1897  was  42.86  per  cent. 
The  increase  of  the  Protestant  Church  member- 
ship during  the  same  period  was  358.47  per 
cent. 
Quality  of  2.  Character  of  Conversions:  It  has  been 
well  said  that  converts  should  be  weighed,  not 
counted.     We  accept  the  challenge,   and  will- 

♦These  figures  are  those  of  the  American  Mission.     Add,  in 
later  periods,  100  for  other  missions. 


Final  Victory  239 

ingly  weigh  as  well  as  count  the  results  of  past 
efforts.  In  this,  however,  it  is  only  fair  to  take 
notice  of  the  depths  of  degradation  out  of  which 
many  have  been  lifted.  There  pre  those  in  the 
Nile  Valley  who  to-day  are  "washed,  sanctified, 
justified  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  in  the  Spirit  of  our  God,"  who  once  were, 
literally,  "fornicators,  idolaters,  adulterers,  ef- 
feminate, thieves,  covetous,  drunkards,  revilers, 
extortioners."  It  is  only  right,  too,  that  ^\e  es- 
timate here  the  cost  of  a  confession  of  Christ  in 
the  Xile  Valley  for  there  are  instances  of  men, 
women  and  even  little  children,  who  have,  liter- 
ally, had  "trial  of  cruel  mockings  and  scourg- 
ings,  yea,  moreover,  of  bonds  and  imprison- 
ments." 

Waiving,  however,  all  these  special  considera- 
tions, there  have  been,  and  are,  among  the  leaders 
and  members  of  the  Protestant  community,  men 
who  would  compare  favorably  with  the  best  in 
Western  Christendom.  The  annals  of  missions 
in  Egypt  tell  of  prominent  characters  and  strik- 
ing personalities  enrolled  in  the  Protestant 
Church, — men  of  wealth,  men  of  influence  and 
position,  men  of  wonderful  piety  and  spiritual- 
ity, men  of  liberality,  men  of  strong  mental 
power  and  energy.  The  limits  of  this  book 
alone  have  crowded  out  a  fuller  reference  to 
them.     To  the  rich  as  well  as  to  the  poor,  to  tho 


240    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

learned  as  well  as  to  the  ignorant,  the  Gospel 
has  proved  itself,  in  the  Nile  Valley,  the  power 
of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God. 

It  is  objected,  at  times,  that  the  majority  of 
the  conversions  are  from  the  membership  of  tlie 
Coptic  Church.  This  is  true,  but  the  objection 
is  irrelevant.  In  tunneling  the  mountain,  there 
is  the  sand  and  the  soft  earth,  as  well  as  the 
granite;  both  must  be  cleared  away.  While 
progress  with  the  former  is  easier  and  more 
rapid,  yet  it  is  necessary  also,  and  its  'emoval 
is  vitally  related  not  only  to  the  completion  of 
the  tunnel,  but  also  to  freedom  iu  attacking  the 
more  resisting  strata  of  stone.  But  the  mis- 
sionary agencies  in  Egypt  have  not  ignored  the 
Moslems.  More  than  one-fifth  of  the  scholars 
enrolled  in  the  schools  of  the  American  Mission 
are  Moslems, — a  large  proportion,  considering 
the  hostility  of  the  Moslem  to  Christianity  and 
his  loyalty  to  his  traditional  system  of  education. 

Then,  too,  there  have  been  converts  from  Is- 
lam, few  in  proportion,  to  be  sure — perhaps  a 
hundred  through  the  work  of  the  American  Mis- 
sion, and  possibly  some  fifty  through  other  mis- 
sions,— yet  these  are  the  first  fruits  of  a  great 
harvest.  Many  Moslems  now  believe  with  their 
hfearts,  but  are  afraid  to  make  an  open  confes- 
sion because  of  extreme  persecution.  If  men 
doubt  the  power  of  the  Gospel  to  reach  the  Mos- 


Life. 


Final  Victory  241 

lem,  they  should  listen  to  the  reports  of  16,000 
Moslems  converted  in  the  East  Indies,  and  5,000 
in  India ;  they  should  read  anew  the  story  of  the 
conversion  of  Ahmed  Fahmi  in  Egypt,  or  that 
remarkable  leaflet  published  by  the  Egypt  Gen- 
eral Mission,  ^'The  Story  of  a  Moslem  Sheikh ;" 
or  they  should  visit  Cairo  to-day  and  attend  a 
meeting  for  Moslems  conducted  by  Mikhail 
Mansur,  now  a  convert  to  Christianity,  but  for- 
merly a  Moslem,  and  a  student  in  the  Azhar 
University;  or,  finally,  they  should  weigh  the 
significance  of  the  change  of  the  Moslem  world 
in  Egypt  in  its  attitude  toward  Christianity.       organic 

3.  Organizations:  The  power  of  a  living 
organization  is  greater  than  that  of  an  individ- 
ual. The  development  of  organic  life  is  often 
more  significant,  therefore,  than  the  winning  of 
an  individual.  Ten  thousand  converts  scattered 
throughout  the  ISTile  Valley  would  be  an  inspir- 
ing record,  but  the  establishment  and  develop- 
ment of  a  well-organized  Protestant  Church  is 
even  a  more  wonderful  achievement. 

The  influence  of  the  Evangelical  Church  in 
Egypt  is  greater  and  more  far-reaching  than  the 
numerical  representation  of  its  membership 
would  indicate.  The  superior  intelligence,  the 
high  moral  standards,  the  greater  responsiveness 
to  Western  ideas,  which  obtain  in  the  Evangeli- 
cal Community  of  Egypt,  to  say  nothing  of  the 


Weak 
Points. 


242-  Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

spiritual  power  of  its  life,  have  made  this  Pro- 
testant Church  and  its  community  known  and 
respected  throughout  the  entire  country.  The 
earlier  persecution  of  converts  by  Moslems  and 
the  deliberate  campaigns  of  opposition  on  the 
part  of  the  Coptic  hierarchy,  testify  to  their  re- 
cognition of  the  growing  influence  of  the  new 
faith. 

The  Evangelical  Church  in  Egypt,  of  course, 
has  weak  points,  and  tendencies  against  which 
she  will  need  to  guard  herself.  In  the  Orient 
especially,  the  danger  from  formalism  is  great. 
There  could  be  little  danger  of  formalism 
in  days  gone  by,  when  men  left  a  tradi- 
tional faith  in  the  face  of  bitter  persecu- 
tion to  become  members  of  a  new  and  despised 
Church;  but  that  danger  has  developed  to-day. 
For  the  Protestant  Church  is  respected  to-day, 
and  it  is  a  mark  of  some  advancement  to  be 
reckoned  a  Protestant.  The  danger  is  particu- 
larly great  that  those  who  have  been  born  in  the 
Church — for  the  Church  has  come  to  the  second 
generation  of  her  existence — will  hold  allegiance 
to  the  reformed  faith  with  the  same  formality 
with  which  others  hold  to-day  to  the  false  teach- 
ings and  corrupt  practises  of  the  Coptic  Church. 

There  is  also  danger  lest  prejudice  to  Islam 
and  to  converts  from  Islam,  should  hinder  this 
Church  from  exercising  her  widest  influence 


Final  Victory 


243 


>^ 

1 

i 

!       1 

I         \         \ 

\ 

^ 

e 

S 

^ 

1 

Tn.^^ 

\ 

s. 

> 

\, 

t, 

z 

E     5 

\ 

j 

Off 

r 

^, 

? 

-j 

< 

1    t 

\ 

V 

u 
o 
z 
<  * 

1. 

u 

O     4 

% 

r 

t 

-  -  ^ 

O 

I 

< 

V 

^         1 

K      i      i 

* 

%. 

244     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

among  Moslems.  It  would  be  easy  for  the 
hatred  of  Copt  for  Moslem,  born  of  centuries  of 
suffering  from  Moslem  oppression,  to  pass  over 
into  the  Protestant  Church  with  the  large  ac- 
cessions wdiich  this  Church  has  received  from 
the  Coptic  body.  Against  this,  missionaries 
and  Church  leaders  must  set  their  faces  as  flint, 
or  the  Evangelical  Church  will  miss  her  true 
calling  to  become  a  ISTational  Church  for  Egypt. 
The  remarkable  material  prosperity  of  the 
country  and  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  necessarily 
threaten  to  undermine  the  spirituality,  and  the 
evangelistic  and  missionary  spirit  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Church.  It  used  to  be  that  every  con- 
vert carried  a  Testament  about  with  him  and  be- 
came a  teacher  of  the  truth  which  he  had  ac- 
cepted. The  self-extending  zeal  of  the  Church 
must  not  be  allowed  to  wane,  else  the  missionary 
enterprise  will  prove  a  hopeless  failure.  For 
foreign  agencies  alone  or  chiefly,  can  never  ac- 
complish the  evangelization  of  Egypt. 
Good  "But  the  native  Evangelical  Church  has  admir- 
Points.  r{\yiQ  qualities  which  form  a  large  part  of  the  en- 
couraging results  of  missions  in  ^Egypt.  This 
ChurcK  is  devoted  to  the  Scriptures.  To  this 
testify  the  wide  sale  of  the  Scriptures,  the  con- 
stant appeal  to  the  Word  of  God  for  vindication 
and  proof,  and  the  Scriptural  preaching  of  pas- 
tors and  evangelists.     This  Church  is  also  de- 


Final  Victory  245 

voted  to  attendance  upon  religious  services.  To 
this  witness  the  records  of  religious  meetingd 
held  every  day  for  long  periods  of  time  in  many 
places,  while  it  is  refreshing  to  a  Western  visitor 
to  notice  both  the  predominance  of  men  and  the 
fact  that  usually,  the  attendance  at  church  ser- 
vices will  be  twice  as  large  as  a  congregation's 
membership. 

This  native  Church  has  also  a  pure  worship. 
In  this,  it  recommends  Christianity  to  Moslems. 
The  simplicity  of  the  service  and  the  absence  of 
pictures,  disabuse  the  Moslem  mind  of  every 
suggestion  of  idolatry,  which  he  has  ordinarily 
associated  with  Christian  worship.  As  in  Sy- 
ria, so  in  Egypt,  Moslems  say  ''If  we  become 
Christians,  we  will  become  Protestants." 

This  Church  is  also  loyal  to  the  missionaries. 
On  the  whole,  there  has  been  little  friction  such 
as  has  often  appeared  in  native  Churches  of 
other  fields,  between  the  native  and  the  foreign 
missionary.  Even  those  who  have  deliberately 
tried  to  sow  dissension  and  schism,  have  had  lit- 
tle success.  This  is  an  earnest,  for  the  future, 
of  many  years  of  harmonious  and  effective  co- 
operation of  foreign  and  native  workers  for  the 
evangelization  of  Egypt. 

There  is  in  the  Church,  also,  a  fine  mission-   Missionar, 

.    .  .  Spirit. 

ary  or  evangelistic  spirit.  Here  lies  the  secret 
of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Church  during  the 


246     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

past  half  century.  Every  member  was  a 
worker.  The  obligation  to  extend  the  kingdom 
by  personal  work,  was  accepted  as  an  inevitable 
corollary  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  of 
salvation.  In  this  connection,  the  liberality  of 
the  Church  deserves  some  mention.  Again  and 
again  have  lots  been  donated,  or  buildings  been 
erected  by  prominent  members,  for  school  and 
church  purposes.  Passing  by  all  monies  paid 
in  as  fees  to  missionary  schools,  hospitals  and 
bookstores,  and  considering  only  the  contribu- 
tions of  the  Protestants  for  regular  church  pur- 
poses, we  find  an  aggregate  of  thirty  thousand 
dollars  contributed  annually.  Many,  indeed, 
tithe  their  incomes.  Once  thoroughly  fired  with 
a  zeal  for  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  whole  of 
Egypt  and  to  the  Sudan,  this  Church  will  co- 
operate mightily  with  the  foreign  forces  in  seek- 
ing to  accomplish  the  evangelization  of  Egypt. 
The  intellectual  superiority  of  Protestants  to 
Copts  and  Moslems  has  been  proved  by  statis- 
tics. This  also  manifests  itself  in  the  life  of  the 
Evangelical  Church  in  the  clear  grasp  which  its 
members  have  of  religious  truth.  Protestant- 
ism entered  Egypt  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  but 
it  was  the  Sword  of  Truth.  Doctrinal  debate 
was  the  atmosphere  in  which  the  young  Church 
grew  and  developed  strength.  The  Evangelical 
Church  is,  therefore,  on  the  whole  of  a  doctrin- 


Final  Victory  247 

arian  type.  To  this,  under  the  blessing  of  God, 
she  owes  her  steadfastness  in  the  midst  of  heret- 
ical tendencies  and  distorted  teachings.  Yet 
this  very  characteristic  suggests  her  need  for 
leadership,  that  she  may  also  develop  symmetri- 
cally, along  lines  of  practical  Christianity.  It 
may  also  help  to  explain  an  apparent  reluctance 
to  encourage  evangelistic  methods,  which,  though 
legitimate,  might  be  carried  to  extremes  of 
emotionalism.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  also 
true  that  the  Egyptian  religious  type  is  pietistic. 
Not  that  the  Egyptian  attains  to  the  sublime 
religious  rapture  which  characterizes  his  brother 
Christian  in  India,  nor  that  he  is  capable  of 
such  lofty  philosophic  meditation;  but  he  has  a 
natural  appreciation  of  that  piety  which  re- 
nounces the  pleasure  of  this  life  for  fellowship 
with  the  Lord.  There  are,  therefore,  pastors 
and  church  members  in  the  Evangelical  Church 
who  make  fasting,  not  a  means  of  salvation,  but 
a  real  means  of  grace  and  spiritual  quickening. 

This  Evangelical  Church,  with  her  forty  or-  Agency. 
dained  ministers,  her  membership  of  some  ten 
thousand,  her  community  of  about  twenty-five 
thousand,  her  hold  upon  truth,  her  liberality, 
her  prestige  and  influence — although,  also,  with 
her  imperfections  and  limitations  of  develop- 
ment— may  well  stand  to  the  forefront  among 
the  results  which  God  hath  wrought  through  the 


248    Egypt  and  the  Christian .  Crusade 

weak  human  instrumentalities  of  the  past,  that 
His  people  may  challenge  Him  to  greater  works 
in  the  future  by  their  fuller  surrender  unto  Him 
for  service. 

4.  Social  and  Religious  Changes:  Even 
where  a  definite  victory  cannot  be  reported, 
every  army  reckons  among  the  valuable  results 
of  its  military  movements  the  winning  of  strat- 
egic positions,  or  the  forcing  of  the  enemy  to  re- 
treat. Just  so  in  the  Christian  Crusade,  the  re- 
constructions of  religious  and  social  conditions, 
under  pressure  of  the  Gospel,  are  to  be  reckoned 
as  deeply  significant  for  the  ultimate  success  of 
the  missionary  enterprise. 
Moslem  Moslcm  life  and  thought  in  Egypt  are  under- 
going far-reaching  changes.  The  late  Mufti, 
Mohammed  Abdu,  who  stood  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  Islam,  is  gone.  Although  the  conserva- 
tive forces,  since  his  death,  seem  to  be  again  in 
the  ascendency,  his  influence  still  lives,  and  the 
reconstruction  of  Islam,  or  its  disintegration, 
cannot  be  prevented.  In  1877,  the  baptism  of 
Ahmed  Fahmi  was  followed  by  a  persecution 
which  threatened  his  life  and  led  to  his  with- 
drawal from  the  country.  Again,  in  1883,  even 
after  the  British  Occupation,  Mohammed  Ha- 
blb  was  exiled  to  Cyprus,  because  he  forsook  the 
Moslem  faith  and  became  a  Christian.  Yet 
during  a  recent  year,  nine  adult  Mohammedans 


Final  Victory  249 

were  baptized  by  one  Mission,  and  several  by 
another,  without  arousing  more  than  a  passing 
feeling  among  Moslems.  It  is  trne,  that  in 
November,  1905,  a  fanatical  ci-owd  of  Moslems 
surged  about  the  American  Mission  at  Cairo 
and  created  a  considerable  riot.  The  inflamma- 
tory speeches,  the  appeals  to  "the  Day  that  is 
coming,"  the  shouts  and  yells  which  character- 
ized that  meeting,  revealed  the  fanatical  spirit 
which  still  lives  in  Islam,  though  it  seems  to 
slumber  at  times.  ISTevertheless,  it  is  also  true 
that  meetings  for  Moslems  for  the  discussion  of 
religion,  are  held  to-day  with  a  freedom  and  pub- 
licity which  were  out  of  the  question  two  decades 
ago. 

The  first  Ecumenical  Conference  of  Workers 
among  Moslems,  held  in  Cairo,  in  1906,  re- 
vealed that  a  change  was  taking  place  through- 
out almost  the  entire  Moslem  world  in  the  atti- 
tude of  Moslems  to  Christianity.  The  least 
crumbling  of  adamantine  walls  of  Islam,  may 
well  herald  the  dawm  of  a  new  day  of  opportun- 
ity and  effectiveness  in  the  presentation  of  the 
Son  of  God  to  the  followers  of  the  Arabian  pro- 
phet. 

X  •  1         i  1  Coptic 

In   a   previous  chapter,   some   changes  were  Reforms. 
Qoted,  affecting  the  Coptic  Church.     If  these 
reforms  were  only  thorough-going  and  abiding, 
the  missionary  would  rejoice  in  seeing  the  his- 


250    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

toric  Coptic  Church  becoming  a  truly  evangeli- 
cal Church.  The  efforts  of  the  early  C.  M.  S. 
missionaries,  however,  the  judgment  of  Bishop 
Gobat,  and  the  experience  of  missionaries  since 
his  day,  testify  to  the  hopelessness  of  awaiting 
such  a  transformation.  ISTevertheless,  the 
changes  and  reforms  which  do  occur,  inadequate 
as  they  have  proved  to  be,  tell  of  the  power  which 
the  Gospel  has  had  and  of  the  greater  power 
which  it  may  yet  have. 
Egyptian  Most  eucouragiug  among  the  results  now  vis- 
hood.  "  i^^6)  is  the  change  in  the  condition  of  woman. 
The  wall  which  it  was  thought  impossible  to 
scale  in  India,  has  been  scaled  in  Egypt,  as  in 
India.  In  the  seclusion  of  the  Egyptian  harem 
to-day,  the  Gospel  is  preached,  and  better  still, 
out  of  its  seclusion  and  ignorance  and  sin,  Mos- 
lem girls  pass  into  the  pure,  uplifting  influences 
of  mission  boarding  or  day  schools.  Among  the 
results,  we  may  count  not  only  the  seven  hundred 
lives  thus  directly  influenced,  but  the  thousands 
of  others,  Moslem  girls  and  women,  in  whose 
hearts  a  hunger  has  been  created  for  something 
better  than  the  empty  gossip  of  the  harem.  We 
may  count,  also,  the  fathers  and  young  men  who 
have  caught  a  new  vision  of  womanhood  that 
prevents  the  former  from  consenting  to  have 
daughters,  or  the  latter  wives,  who  are  without 
education. 


Final  Victory  251 

Again  the  question  is  asked,  Are  the  results 
of  past  efforts  such  as  to  warrant  belief  in  the 
possibility  of  ultimate  success  for  the  mission- 
ar}'  enterprise  ?  Calling  to  mind  again  the  difli- 
culties,  the  opposition,  the  hostile  faiths,  the 
unworthy  instruments  in  the  face  of  which  these 
magnificent  results — of  numerical  gains,  of  char- 
acter and  worth,  of  influential  organizations,  of 
social  and  religious  changes — have  been  gained, 
can  we  doubt  for  a  single  moment  the  possibility 
of  achieving  ultimate  victory  through  the  Gos- 
pel which  God  has  committed  unto  us. 


Magnitude  of  the  Task 

The  Christian  conquest  of  Egypt  is  no  holi- 
day task.  It  is  easy  to  overlook  the  difficulties. 
It  is  easy  to  so  emphasize  successes  that  an  im- 
pression is  left  that  the  work  is  almost  done. 
There  are  those  who  have  gone  so  far  as  to  say 
that  the  time  has  already  come,  if  not  for 
the  withdrawal  of  foreign  forces,  at  least  for 
the  limitation  of  these  forces  to  their  present 
strength.  IN'ever,  however,  will  the  missionary 
enterprise  reach  a  successful  issue,  until  the 
Church  gains  a  more  adequate  conception  of  the 
magnitude  of  her  task  and  of  the  work  which 
still  remains  to  be  done. 


252    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 


Intensity  of 
Dtfficalty. 


Extnnt  of 
Need. 


In  the  chapters  on  the  people  and  their  re- 
ligions, a  statement  was  made  of  the  doctrinal 
position  and  the  practises  which  characterize 
religions  life  in  Egypt.  But  no  statement  can 
do  justice  to  the  power  of  resistance  which  a  re- 
ligion like  Islam  possesses.  And  Islam  is  the 
missionary  problem  of  Egypt.  "When  a  soul  is 
held  down,  not  by  one  root  only,  but  by  a  myriad 
roots,  who  is  sufficient  to  deliver  it?"  What 
Adoniram  Judson,  said  of  Burma,  is  the  rule  of 
Islam  in  Egypt  to-day.  "When  any  person  is 
known  to  be  considering  the  new  Religion,  all 
his  relations  and  acquaintances  rise  en  masse; 
so  that  to  get  a  new  convert  is  like  pulling  out 
the  eye-tooth  of  a  live  tiger."  To  the  deadness  of 
the  individual  conscience,  the  depravity  of  the 
individual  heart,  and  the  weakness  of  the  indi- 
vidual will,  we  must  add  that  tremendous  aggre- 
gate of  influence  which  a  religious  system,  the 
most  fanatical  known,  and  a  social  world  of  over 
nine  million  units,  can  exert  upon  an  individual 
life.  Then  we  begin  to  realize  something  of  the 
magnitude  of  this  task  from  the  point  of  view  of 
its  intensity. 

The  extent  of  the  problem,  however,  requires 
consideration.  Emphasis  was  laid  upon  the  en- 
couraging numerical  results  of  missionary  ef- 
forts in  the  past.  These  are,  indeed,  calculated 
to  prove  to  us  the  possibility  of  success.     But 


f^inal  Victory  253 

what  are  these  results  in  tlie  presence  of  the 
great  need !  For  every  Protestant  Christian, 
there  are,  one  Jew,  about  three  Catholics,  moro 
than  26  Copts,  and  369  Moslems — one  evangel- 
ical Christian  for  every  399  who  are  not. 

In  this  comparison,  we  have  followed  the  cen- 
sus of  1897,  and  counted  every  evangelical 
Christian,  whether  a  Church  member  or  not. 
What  these  figures  mean,  will  be  appreciated 
when  we  remember  that  in  the  United  States, 
there  is  one  church  memher,  to  every  three  who 
are  not.  Three  hundred  and  ninety-nine  to 
one,  as  against  three  to  one !  And  would  we  ven- 
ture to  compare  for  a  moment  the  three  in  Amer- 
ica who  are  not  Church  members  with  Moslems 
or  Copts  in  Egypt  ? 

All  the  Protestant  Missions  working  in  Egypt, 
report  107  permanent  foreign  workers,  not 
counting  missionaries'  wnves  who  are  not  in 
charge  of  regular  work.  We  find,  therefore, 
that,  on  an  average,  every  missionary  has  a 
parish  of  over  80,000  souls. 

It  is  true  that  we  have  with  us  "the  God  of 

impossibilities,"  and  we  read,  "  Five  of  you  shall 

chase  a  hundred,  and  a  hundred  of  you  shall 

chase  ten  thousand."    But  it  is  also  true  that  in 

the  spiritual    conquest    ot    tlie    world,    human 

agencies  must  bear  some  proper  relation  to  the 

work  which  is  to  be  accomplished,  and  God  will 

18 


254    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

not  permit  men  to  make  faith  in  Him  the  sub- 
terfuge for  spiritual  sloth  and  selfishness. 
An  To  bring  out  the  need,  let  us  look  at  a  district 

District,  t-hat  has  been  occupied  ( ?),  the  city  of  Alexan- 
dria. Here  is  a  city  almost  exactly  as  large,  ac- 
cording to  accurate  census,  as  the  city  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.  Forty  years  ago,  the  United  Presby- 
terian Church  began  work  in  the  city,  although 
neither  an  adequate  force  of  workers,  nor  an  ade- 
quate equipment  of  mission  premises,  have  ever 
been  available  for  the  development  of  missionary 
work  in  Alexandria.  This  city  is  the  second 
largest  city  in  Egypt.  It  has  a  native  Egyptian 
population  of  273,648,  of  whom  254,353  are 
Moslems.  What  are  the  Protestant  missionary 
forces  working  in  this  city  ? 

There  are  four  Societies  working  among  the 
natives  of  the  city.  One  is  the  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society,  with  a  bookstore  and  two  col- 
porteurs. Another  is  the  Egypt  Mission  Band, 
with  two  unmarried  English  women  in  charge 
of  a  small  school  for  girls.  Another  is  the  North 
African  Mission,  with  an  English  ordained  mis- 
sionary and  his  wife,  and  two  unmarried  English 
women  missionaries.  The  last  is  the  American 
Mission  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  the 
oldest  and  strongest  missionary  agency  in  the 
city.  It  has  two  ordained  American  mission- 
aries with  their   wives,    and    three    unmarried 


Final  Victory  255 

women  missionaries.  The  Mission  has  a  good 
church  building,  and  a  splendid  lot,  but  no 
'  money  with  which  to  erect  mission  premises.  It 
has  four  schools. 

Summing  up,  there  are  in  Alexandria  labor-  aud^pat"* 
ing  to  reach  its  large  Moslem  and  Coptic  com-  buigu. 
munities,  three  ordained  foreign  missionaries 
and  their  wives,  seven  unmarried  foreign  women 
missionaries,  one  native  congregation  of  about 
one  hundred  members  with  a  native  ordained 
pastor  in  charge,  some  four  points  where  services 
are  held,  and  six  Protestant  schools  for  natives. 
From  Alexandria,  Egypt,  our  thought  turns  to 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  which  has  an  equal  population, 
and  has  its  slums  and  its  spiritual  needs,  too, 
but  which  has  also  about  two  hundred  Protestant 
churches,  with  a  membership  of  over  66,000,  al- 
most two  hundred  pastors,  and  some  fifty  other 
resident  ministers;  that  has  so  many  other  or- 
ganizations and  forces,  specializing  in  one  dir- 
ection or  another,  yet  laboring  together  for  the 
moral  and  spiritual  redemption  of  the  city. 
Somehow,  without  detracting  from  the  need  of 
this  American  city,  it  helps  us  to  grasp  the 
spiritual  destitution  of  that  other  city,  along  the 
Mediterranean  shore. 


256    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 
America         Another  illustration  may  set  forth  the  need. 

and  £gypt.  ,  ,         "^ 

The  combined  population  of  the  States  of  Ohio 
and  Pennsylvania  is  very  slightly  in  excess  of 

PITTSBURGH,  PA. 
Population  (1900),  321,616 


195  Protestant  churches. 

186  Protestant  pastors. 

54  Protestant  ministers. 

66,000  Protestant  church  members. 

7  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations — 5967  members. 

3  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations — 2827  members, 

4  Salvation  Army  corps ;  200  workers,  2000  adherents. 
190  Sabbath  Schools 

Etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 


Statistics  of  Protestant  Christian  Work  la 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


Final  Victory  257 

that  of  Egypt.  It  is  iu  these  two  States,  that  the 
strength  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  lies. 
In  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  the  United  Pres- 

ALEXANDRIA,  EGYPT 

Population  (1897),  319,766:  natives,  273,648; 
foreigners,  46,118 


1  Protestant  native  congregation. 

1  Protestant  native  pastor. 

180  Protestant  natives. 

3  Foreign  ordained  missionaries. 

7  Unmarried  foreign  women  missionaries. 


Foreign  population. 


Statistics  of  Protestant  Cliristian  Work  in 
Alexandria,  Egypt 


258     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

bjterian  Church  has  464  ordained  ministers. 
Among  an  ahnost  eqnal  population  in  Egypt 
whose  evatigelization  Providence  has  committed 
to  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  this  Church 
has  just  61  ordained  ministers,  counting  both 
foreign  and  native.  In  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania, 
the  United  Presbyterian  Church  has  62,690 
members ;  and  there  are,  in  this  territory,  a  few 
other  evangelical  denominations  at  work.  In 
Egypt,  the  American  Mission  reports  some 
8639  members,  and  the  church  membership  of 
all  other  Protestant  Missions  will  not  exceed  one 
hundred  more. 

But  such  a  comparison  is  superficial.  To 
make  it  even  approximately  true,  we  must  go 
through  the  vast  population  of  these  two  noble 
States,  and  we  must  tear  down  the  Christian 
schools,  burn  the  Bibles,  blot  out  the  libraries, 
we  must  rob  every  home  of  its  Christian  home- 
life,  make  94  out  of  every  100  ignorant  of  the 
alphabet,  degrade  women  to  a  position  of  slavery, 
reorganize  the  political  system  on  a  Moham- 
medan basis,  make  Friday  a  legal  holiday  and 
ignore  the  Sabbath  entirely ;  we  must  enter  with- 
in men's  souls  and  make  them  devoid  of  Chris- 
tian sentiment,  deprive  them  of  Chrstian  ideals, 
instil  a  large  measure  of  cruelty,  hate  and  lust, 
— and  then^  as  we  send  forth  our  61  preachers 
and   scatter   from   Philadelphia  to   Cincinnati 


Final  Victory  259 

8639  church  members,  we  will  come  nearer  real- 
izing the  spiritual  needs  of  Egyj^t  to-day. 


The  Price  of  Victory 

"God  alone  can  save  the  world,  but  God  can-  **''^*'»* 
not  save  the  world  alone."  It  sounds  strange, 
to  say  that  God  needs  men.  Christ  said,  "With- 
out me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  and  we  are  making 
Him  say,  "Without  you,  I  can  do  nothing." 
But  there  is  a  sense  in  which  it  is  true,  for  men 
are  in  God's  plan  for  working  out  His  will. 
His  Church  is  in  that  plan.  Every  Christian, 
too,  is  in  that  plan,  somewhere.  God  might 
have  made  the  plan  differently  perhaps.  Every- 
thing could  have  been  different,  but  we  take 
things  as  they  are,  when  we  say  God  needs  men. 

Isaiah  has  revealed  the  will  of  God  for  Egypt : 
"Jehovah  shall  be  known  to  Egypt,  and  the 
Egyptians  shall  know  Jehovah  in  that  day  .... 
for  that  Jehovah  of  hosts  hath  blessed  them,  say- 
ing, Blessed  be  Egypt,  my  people"  This  then 
is  God's  will.  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  it. 
To  realize  this  will,  God  needs  men.  This  is 
the  price  of  His  victory,  and  ours. 

1.     The  Man  of  Vision:  Almost  the  greatest  Men  of 
need  of  the  missionary  enterprise  to-day  is  for  ^*''*"** 
men  of  vision.     Back  of  every  successful  move- 
ment there  stands  a  man  of  vision,  a  man  who 


260    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

saw  the  possibilities.  The  initial  command  is, 
''Lift  up  jour  eyes,  and  look."  The  initial  need 
is  for  men  who  will  see  the  possibilities  for  an 
evangelized,  a  redeemed  Egypt. 

J^ot  all  Christians  have  caught  that  vision, 
either  for  Egypt  or  for  any  part  of  the  world, 
and  so  they  do  not  support  missions.  Not  all 
who  support  missions  have  caught  that  vision, 
and  so  they  give  grudgingly;  they  do  not  give 
themselves.  Not  all  who  have  given  themselves, 
and  even  become  missionaries,  have  caught  that 
vision,  and  while  they  serve  usefully,  they  do 
not  inspire  others. 

The  need  is  for  men  of  vision.  They  are 
needed  in  the  pulpit.  Such  men  hold  up  the 
possibility  of  doing  the  thing  which  God  com- 
mands. They  hold  up  the  possibility  of  doing 
the  thing  now,  which  Christ  asked  His  Church 
long  ago  not  only  to  do,  but  to  get  done.  They 
see,  and  they  make  others  see,  that  what  God 
commands  must  be  quite  possible,  both  because 
His  commands  are  always  reasonable  and  be- 
cause He  helps  those  who  try  to  obey. 

It  is  a  strange  thing,  that  while  Christ  said 
to  His  Church,  nineteen  centuries  ago,  "Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature,"  almost  one-half  the  world  is  still 
beyond  the  reach  of  any  messenger  of  Jesus 
Christ.     It  is,  of  course,  because  the  Church  has 


Final  Victory  261 

not  felt  the  full  obligation  of  the  Command. 
But  it  is  more  strange  still,  that  where  Christ's 
disciples  have  really  begun  to  obey,  so  few  of 
them  have  thought  it  possible  to  ever  get  the 
Command  fully  obeyed.  Believing  as  they  did, 
it  was  natural  not  to  really  plan,  or  try,  to  get 
the  world  evangelized. 

Men  of  vision  are  needed,  then,  to  hold  is  it  a 
before  the  Church  both  the  obligation  and  the  '""""^'"♦y^ 
possibility  of  evangelizing  Egypt  and  the  world, 
until,  assuming  that  obligation,  the  whole 
Church  shall  bend  her  energies  toward  getting 
the  will  of  God  done  upon  earth.  That  is  what 
the  Church  is  organized  for,  that  there  "might 
be  made  known  through  the  Church,  the  mani- 
fold wisdom  of  God in  Christ  Jesus  our 

Lord."  Men  of  vision  see  this.  They  get 
others  to  see  it. 

The  clearest  and  fullest  vision  that  men  have 
caught  in  recent  times  for  the  redemption  of 
Egypt,  is  that  which  the  missionaries  in  Egypt 
had,  Avhen  they  sent  to  America  an  appeal  for 
2 SO  missionaries.  Those  who  signed  the  appeal 
may  find  that  more  than  that  number  of  mission- 
aries will  be  needed.  They  may  find  that  a  great 
many  more  things  will  be  needed  besides  mis- 
sionaries. But  they  were  men  of  vision,  be- 
cause they  were  planning  to  get  Egypt  really 


262     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

evangelized  and  realize  God's  will  in  that  coun- 
try. 

The  missionary  enterprise  needs  men  who  will 
hold  up  that  vision  before  the  Church,  until  the 
thing  is  done,  whatever  it  costs. 
Men  of  2.  The  Man  of  Prayer:  From  Sumatra, 
Hester  I^eedham  once  wrote,  "I  believe  we  are 
in  the  midst  of  a  great  battle.  We  are  not  our- 
selves fighting,  we  are  simply  accepting  every- 
thing that  comes;  but  the  Powers  of  Light  are 
fighting  against  the  Powers  of  Darkness."  Paul 
often  wrote  in  that  same  vein. 

That  is  why  men  of  praj^er  are  needed.  The 
forces  to  be  overcome  are  spiritual,  and  only  the 
spiritual  can  overcome  them.  Some  of  them 
are  superhuman,  and  the  merely  human  is  not 
strong  enough  to  overpower  them.  So  we  make 
our  appeal  to  spiritual  power,  to  the  super- 
human. We  pray  to  God,  We  conquer  on  our 
knees. 

It  doesn't  matter  where  we  are,  we  can  help  in 
the  conflict.  This  world  of  ours  is  a  sort  of 
closed  circuit  and  what  is  done  in  America  helps 
or  hinders  across  the  sea,  in  Egypt.  The  man 
of  prayer  in  America  can  generate  spiritual 
power  which  is  instantly  available  in  the  Kile 
Valley.  He  can  turn  defeat  into  victory  for  the 
missionary  in  Egypt.  He  can  baptize  the  native 
worker  with  power,  and  give  courage  to  the  nev; 


Final  Victory  2G3 

and  timid  convert.     It  is  all  verj  simple  and 
plain  to  the  man  of  prayer. 

We  said  that  almost  the  greatest  need  is  for 
the  man  of  vision.  The  greatet^t  need  of  all, 
however,  -without  any  exception,  is  for  the  man 
of  prayer.  Dr.  A.  T.  Pierson  once  compared 
prayer  to  electricity,  and  men  of  prayer  to  cells 
in  a  battery.  Sometimes,  of  course,  conditions 
hinder  the  individual  cell  from  generating  the 
greatest  amount  of  power  possible.  But  even 
where  all  are  in  good  condition,  there  is  often 
need  for  more  power.  Then,  the  number  of 
cells  in  the  battery  has  to  be  increased. 

The  missionary  enterprise  needs  a  greater 
number  of  men  of  prayer.  A  recent  visit  to  the 
fields,  is  the  ground  for  testifying  that  over 
there,  in  Egypt,  there  are  channels  for  spiritual 
power  to-day  unfilled,  agencies  to-day  inoper- 
ative, lives  to-day  unfruitful,  organizations  to- 
day ineffective — dead,  lifeless  machinery  wait- 
ing to  be  vitalized  by  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  an- 
swer to  prayer. 

A  new  phrase  has  been  coined.  It  is  "inter- 
cessory missionaries."  An  intercessory  mis- 
sionary is  one  who  selects  a  worker  abroad  and 
undertakes  to  pray  definitely  anrl  daily  for  that 
worker.  Each  missionary  in  Egypt  ought  to 
be  supported  by  a  group  of  intercessory  mis- 
sionaries, men  of  prayer. 


Wealth, 


264     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

"If  we  are  simplj  to  prav,"  said  J.  Hudson 
Taylor  of  China,  ''to  the  extent  of  a  simple  and 
pleasant  and  enjoyable  exercise,  and  know  noth- 
ing of  watching  in  prayer  and  of  weariness  in 
prayer,  we  shall  not  draw  down  the  blessing  that 
we  may.  We  shall  not  sustain  our  missionaries 
who  are  overwhelmed  with  the  appalling  dark- 
ness of  heathenism We  must  serve  God 

even  to  the  point  of  suffering."  When  we  say 
tiat  the  missionary  enterprise  in  Egypt  calls  for 
men  of  prayer,  we  mean  men  of  prayer  after  that 
sort. 
Men  of  3.  The  Man  of  Wealth :  A  book  which  needs 
to  be  wi'itten  is  "The  Gospel  for  an  Age  of 
Wealth."  However,  the  book  is  in  process  of 
writing.  He  Who  sits  ''over  against  the  treas- 
ury" is  writing  it  to-day  by  His  Spirit  in  the 
lives  of  His  faithful  stewards.  It  has  in  it  a 
chapter  on  "Faithfulness  in  Little,"  another  on 
"Faithfulness  in  Much,"  another  on  "Joy." 

The  book  is  especially  needed  for  our  age  and 
country.  Individual  fortunes  in  America  have 
already  reached  limits  that  were  unheard  of  and 
unthought  of  in  ancient  times,  even  for  kings. 
And  not  only  have  a  few  attained  to  great  wealth, 
but  the  middle  classes  also  enjoy  comforts  and 
privileges  that  were  known  to  only  the  wealth- 
iest classes  in  days  gone  by.  So  almost  every- 
body needs  the  book. 


Final  Victory  205 

The  peculiar  thing  about  the  wealth  of  Amer- 
icans is,  that  it  is  not  really  earned  for  the  most 
part.  It  is  discovered.  We  have  happened 
upon  a  country  of  great  resources.  Its  prairies 
are  possessed  of  untold  fertility.  Its  hills  are 
seamed  with  rich  coal  mines.  Its  valleys  hide 
springs  of  valuable  oil  for  burning.  Its  subter- 
raneous caves  are  great  storehouses  of  natural 
gas.  Its  mountains  are  covered  with  the  finest 
forests,  and  their  fissures  are  filled  with  the 
costliest  minerals.  And  we  happened  upon  this 
wealth.  Xot  that  Americans  are  lazy  or  sloth- 
ful. On  the  contrary,  they  love  to  work,  and 
they  work  hard  to  bring  the  wealth  of  Nature 
into  their  storehouses  and  barns.  But  the  wealth 
they  gather  is  enormously  out  of  proportion  to 
the  labor  expended.  It  is  really  a  gift,  a  gift 
of  !N'ature,  a  gift  of  God. 

These  great  resources  which  have  been  sud- 
denly opened  up  and  which  make  Americans 
wealthier,  as  a  class,  than  people  in  Europe, 
must  be  in  God's  plan.  These  great  resources 
are  meant  by  Him  to  be  used,  not  wasted ;  wisely 
invested,  not  foolishly  spent.  This  climax  of 
wealth  is  a  wonderful  opportunity  for  the  King- 
dom of  God,  if  only  God  can  have  His  way  with 
men  of  wealth,  not  men  of  great  wealth  only,  but 
men  of  little  wealth,  too. 


266    Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

Waiting  gQ  Christ  waits.  As  He  waits.  He  is  win- 
Winning,  aiiig  to  Himself  men  of  wealtli — men  of  limited 
wealth  and  men  of  great  wealth.  "Touching  the 
tender  and  bleeding  and  kingly  hands  of  their 
Divine  Master,  aiid  standing  under  the  shadow 
of  the  cross,"  men  of  wealth  are  acknowledging 
His  sovereignity  over  their  lives  and  are  saying 
to  Him,  Lord,  what  wouldst  Thou  have  me  to  do 
with  Thy  wealth  ? 

Then  comes  Christ's  opportunity.  He  speaks 
of  His  great  enterprise,  the  missionary  enter- 
prise. It  is  big,  big  like  the  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try. It  is  international,  world-wide.  He  asks 
men  of  wealth  to  enter  into  partnership  with 
Him  in  this  enterprise ;  to  be  His  stewards,  since 
they  acknowledge  that  the  wealth  they  hold  is 
His. 

It  is  the  opportunity  of  our  country  and  of  our 
age  to  launch  the  missionary  movement  on  an 
adequate  scale.  The  scale  of  it !  That  is  where 
the  fault  lies.  The  great  railroad  systems  of  our 
country  are  doubling  and  quadrupling  their 
tracks.  Why  ?  Because  railroad  service  with 
a  single  track  is  not  on  a  scale  which  will  care 
for  the  business.  With  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dying  in  Egypt  each  year,  the  worse  than  "single 
track  system"  of  one  missionary  to  80,000  is  in- 
adequate, hopelessly  so.     The  tracks  need  to  be 


Final  Victory  267 

doubled  and  quadrupled.       And  men  of  some 
wealth  must  do  it. 

Special  openings  occur  for  the  investment  of  Special 
wealth.  A  college  for  the  Delta  would  capture 
and  hold  for  Christ  the  citadel  of  knowledge  in 
Lower  Egypt.  For  fifteen  years  the  matter  lias 
been  agitated,  but  the  money  has  not  come.  A 
half  a  million  dollars  would  be  needed.  In  the 
fourth  century,  Ptolemy  did  not  hesitate  to 
spend  a  fortune  to  build  the  Pharos,  a  many- 
storied  tower  ''for  the  salvation  of  navigators." 
Is  there  no  one  in  the  twentieth  century  to  build 
for  sixty  or  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  at  that 
same  city  of  Alexandria,  a  building  for  the  eter- 
nal salvation  of  landsmen  as  well  as  of  seamen  ? 
And  so  we  might  go  on,  from  station  to  station, 
pointing  out  the  places  wdiere  the  work  and 
Christ  wait  for  the  man  of  wealth. 

Will  this  age  of  wealth  last  forever  in  our 
land  ?  Perhaps  beyond  this  and  other  genera- 
tions, but  God  grant  that  speedily  this  magnifi- 
cent and  daring  project,  Christian  Missions,  may 
be  launched  on  an  adequate  scale  and  pushed 
thi'ough  to  a  successful  issue,  with  the  resources 
which  are  really  Christ's  but  which  lie  has  com- 
mitted "in  trust"  to  the  man  of  wealth. 

4.     The  Man  Himself:  "Some  one  must  go,  inveKtment 
and  if  no  one  else  will  go,  he  who  hears  the  call 
must  go;  I  hear  the  call,  for  indeed  God  has 


268     Egypt  and  the  Christian  Crusade 

brought  it  before  me  on  every  side,  and  go  I 
must."  So  spoke  Henry  W.  Fox,  of  India. 
And  Christ  waits  for  men  like  Fox  who  will  go. 

This  is  the  price  of  victory.  It  was  the  price 
Christ  paid.  "We  must  remember  that  it  was 
not  by  interceding  for  the  world  in  glory  that 
Jesus  saved  it.  He  gave  Himself.  Our  pray 
ers  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world,  are  but 
a  bitter  irony  so  long  as  we  only  give  of  our  su- 
perfluity, and  draAv  back  before  the  sacrifice  of 
ourselves." 

Yet  there  are  so  many  hindrances.  Friends 
object.  Satan  hinders.  It  really  is  strange 
that  men  break  through  at  all,  and  succeed  in 
reaching  the  foreign  field.  "Some  of  us  almost 
shudder  now  to  think  how  nearly  we  stayed  at 
home,"  wrote  a  missionary. 

But  the  Command  abides,  "Go."  And  the 
ISTeed  is  greater  there  than  here,  one  Christian 
to  every  three,  here ;  one  to  every  three  hundred 
and  ninety-nine  out  there,  in  the  Nile  Valley. 
A  hundred  years  from  now,  will  some  things 
matter,  or  will  This  ?  And  is  not  Christ  there  ? 
"Lo,  I  am  with  you  always  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world."  And,  after  all,is  not  Life  there? 
"Whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  My  sake  and 
the  Gospel's,  shall  save  it."  Shall  we  not  pay  the 
price  of  victory,  and  "win  for  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain,  the  reward  of  His  sufferings  ?" 


APPENDIX 


19 


270 


Appendix  I 


H 
M      ^ 


Pi     ^ 

■     W 
o 

w 

o 


<J 


M 


5 


t-  M  00  OD  «»  M 
*-  1— c  C5  0»  M  -< 
t-  Tj<  M  e^c^ 
«0  O  1-H  lA  CO 


irt  eo  M  ^  '-'  00 
GC  O  ^  rf.  ^  ^~* 

Oi     U^    Tj*     (^y.     C^    1-H 


o  CO  OS  o  T)<  — I 


M  ■'It         .-1 


t~  00  N  o»  eo  o 
t-  Tf<  —  (M  05  Ol 
CO  «0  lO  t^  ^^  Oi 


cToi  M  O  Tf  «o 
t-  -J  Tj<  O  M  ^^ 


o»  «e  00  ej  M  00 

r-(  O  t^  00  CC  »0 

0»  O  Tjl  irt  >«  «o 

oTt-^OO  rfToO  t- 

T-l  ^  M  M 


O  M  ■^  •«  O  O 
■rj*  CO  k«  *— I  t^  00 

00  t-^  »-^  00  t-  to 

O*  O  0>  O*  Oi  Oi 


1—1  «D  -^   O  CO  N  00 

00  ^  ^  CO  **  CO  Tj< 

lO  CO  t—  c^  o^  05^  o^ 

co"  ^m'oo  CO  ir^  «o 

CD  C^  CO  ^^  *~  <0  CO 

00  cc  t^  t—  c^  ^  CO 


lO  Oi  CD  CO  OC  00 
ur5  vO  rH   lO  OS  M 

C^  f^  -rj*  -^  O  O 

r-i'ff  M  CO  >-l 


«  o  ,-1  M  O  1~-  00 

m  t-  t-  o>  O  «5  t- 

i>r  oTcD  ia<'"i^o  CO 

N  N  ^  CO  OS  I-  «g 

OS  CO  !>•  *»  C^  ^  ^'-' 


o  o  00  CO  in  «o 

fi^  CO  O  lO  CD  ^ 
e-J^,-4^1^  CC^rJI  I^ 

1—  OS  ^  t—  "^  "^ 
CO  T*l  M  OS  t-  «0 
CO  t-  t-  C<1  M  00 


o 

QJ 


u 


Q 


(3 


Sp 


3> 


jd  ^' 


►<  s  b:  s<J 

*-*  .—    (D    *!i    '^    ^     I 

<C    5j  ^    33    9     3  -i 


.  £  cs.:: 


Appendix  I 


271 


M  M  -3^  t-;^ -^  X  ■*, -i 
M  r-r  '-  as  t-  —   O 


r-«c  —  ocoe^oc^ 


e<ic»5cc^tc>o«cc-i 


eCMt-NO»<-i«OM 


i-^t-  e^  OS  M  00  oc  05^ 


-fO'i'e^  =  —  b-£-1 


ec  c^  -*■  ■«  t-  «c  t-  (M 


> 

u 

Of 

m 
a. 

a. 


o  j;  Sj2  xa - 

'^  5  '5  ^  *"*  m  ^  *  3 
c  «  fe  c5  S -^  5  iai  ^ 


_;       T3 


272 


Appendix  II 


M 


lOiO      1-t      OOOSO'^'iO^W'* 


1—1  00  OSOS  CCOOiO»«C>rt 

t,  Tti  cc  r)i  00  -*"  c->  CO  lO  e^ 

;tl  1—1  rH  O  CO  -*<   5^^ 'i^ -^  M 

M  N  M  tCo  l-^O  CO 


u^r-TcOr-H-^CCT-tt-lOCOOTji 
e^  ■^  lO  rH  CO 


u^rH  t-  C<)-i*OM'1*COOIMM 

(M   CC  -)<  CO  CO  C4  CO   O^  t^  f^  >«  OO 

oTcO^  ^  C©  CO  OS  -^  C<1  O   CO  CO  r-H 

^lO  "»  ios^-*o»coc-)Oi<r^ 

O   O  M  .H          rH  r-*^  1^  "^  ""1 '^ 

cT  e<5  CO  CO  CO  OS 


CO     rH     eo  00 

OS       O       -O  i-H 

Tji     00     o  c^ 


CO  --I  CO  -f  CD  O 
CO  CO  1>-  O   C-1   CO 

CO  t-*  CO  "^  cc  c^ 
ei'  co"  ofT  c-r  'O  oo 
CO  CO  ocj  o  CO  CO 

CS  I— I  »o  t^ 


00MCOt-I^CO-<ur5T)<OSCO00i-l 
lOC^OSl^Jt^C^OCOi— 'C/^OOSO 
C-^coOvOOCOC^CDCOO  OS^  CO  CO 
oriq'"^i-r'^C005'— l»C-)0(MCO 
■^C030CO  iOO»r-ie^Tt<i~i— 'CO 

0_Ol-t  tH  r-l  i-i,rH  (N^CO  CO 

C^  CO         CO  I— t  -^ 


■^  9^ 


?  a 


•Joe 


o  g. 


.     m'd.S   o   S   ^    « 

k5  O  H?  «  f^  «  H  ? 


Ol  -fl    cj 


'2  i 

9  -^ 


®   £ 


^    o    S 


>i  a  "2 


^     2      -H 


-.-.     ca   ^3   7; 


H  --s  --< 


W   !;^  .^ 


s  s 


0    *- 

M   3 

to  CO 

a  r, 

•-   t^ 

i   a 

p^    co'    Oj 


t)     OS 


...    a,    oj 


Appendix  III 


273 


APPENDIX  III 


PRONUNCIATION  AND   SPELLING   OF  FOREIGN 
WORDS   AND   PROPER   NAMES 


The  rules  of  tte  Royal  Geographical  Society  have  been  gener- 
ally observed  in  the  spelling  of  all  foreign  words  and  proper  names 
quoted  in  this  book.  It  is  especially  important  to  observe  the  pho- 
netic value  uf  i  and  u  :  i  is  always  pronounced  as  in  machme ;  u  as 
in  fl«te.  The  following  table  gives  a  number  of  the  letters  and 
their  equivalents : 


Letters 


Pronunciation  and  Remarks 


EXAMI-LES 


a  aa  m  father.     

a  as  in  fate 

English  e;  i  as  in  ravine 

oasinnole • 

long  u  as  in  flute;  the  sound  of  oo  in  boot.... 
All  vowels  are   shortened  in  sound  by  doubling 

the  following  consonant 

as  in  aisle,  or  English  i  in  ice 

oiv  as  in  how ;••■ 

practically   the  same   as   ei   in   the  English 

eight,  or  ey  in  the  English  they 

is  always  a  consonant,  as  in  yard 


Java 
Yezo 
Fiji 
Tokio 
Zulu 

Tanna 
Shanghai 

Fuchau 
Beirut 
Doleib 

Kikuyu 


274 


Appendix  IV 


to 
w 
t> 

t-t 
H 
< 

o 

O 

t-H 

Pi 

o 


o 
w 


w 

w 

O 

p^ 

P^ 
O 

o 

I— I 
CO 

<1 

H 
CO 


Suipnpni  iiaoAV 


snopBJS  niBiM 


IBiox 


saaino 


-«  —I      .NtH 


■*«tOr1r-lrt 


OO^t-l  rtr-C 


SJaqDBax  looqDS 


SiSipgUBAg 

pauiBpaonn 


«3K  paniBpjO 


sj3dj3H  WJ3X  ^JOHS 


30JOJ  inauBHiaad 

iBlOi 


uaiao^i.  pauJBinnn 


uanxpAi. 

'sJopoQ  IBOipaiM 


naw  'sJopoQ  iBDipajM 


naraXEi 


naiv  paniEpao 


;aod3H  ni  papnjDni  aB3A 


in  to  Oi  w  P)  ■«>  T-i 


CO         ■^  C^l  »C  fH 


IM       ■'J'C^     .(Ne^ 


O        OOOOOOO 


idXSa  «}  uBSaq  31JOa1 


03  9 


9S 


O  a) 


2  Km.?;  9 
>  Ma 5  4>  u 


y      (SKSffl^OtNOC 


^  A. 

«    M 

3    O 


oS-o 

f1  .Ji 

•-0° 

C3     O 

m    in 

'0  ^*2 

t.    u 

l^« 

p   o 

is  & 

o-S  0 

a  a 

ccW« 

'K  'Sj 

"o  fl  to 

SS 

"    3  c  a 

^  J 

2**1' 

H  H 

g    OU^i 

CO 

w 

?> 

H 

<J 

55 

o 

:z; 

o 

1^ 

«>i 

o 

52; 

« 

l-H 

Q 

M 

W 

f^ 

P 

o 

% 

^ 

(—1 

H 

H 

S^ 

Ph 

O 

K- 

a 

:^, 

> 

t— ( 

y-K 

w 

^ 

y. 

o 

hH 

yj 

Q 

t/j 

^ 

S 

W 

H 

1^ 

Appendix  IV 


275 


■£-;r'0'S  n  q_, 
U2  g  (-1  ■--  O  S '^ 

t;  o  "^  -2  o  H  I- 

J3  O  O^S  O  JJ  l* 


snoi;E33a3noo  I    g     ^ 


siuEOiuniunioo 


o 

Pi 

Ph 


soinjxo 


SlU3{lBd-UI 


s;Bi}dsoH 


sijdna  iB^iox 


SIOOIIDS  IB^ox 


STUBS  ni  sijdnd 


S3U6aim9S 


soiBs  ni  sijdnd 


lO        O -^  t^ -^  »-■  O  »C         t' 


1-1        OC  CO  Oi --I  ■*  >-"-<        X 


siooqDS  h3ih 

puB  SaipaBog 


9iaB8  ni  Bjidnj 


siooqos 

XjB)U9in3iH 


t^      ocooc^ooo 


<0  CC  OS  ^  €0  r-i  ^^ 


»•     <Sf<5'*  uscrNcc 


9  CD 

2  " 
wo 

w"  of 

fe-O 

|§ 


fia 

O  V 

11 

P.  « 

CO  u 

M^  a 

OS 

t^ 
s  u 

•=^£ 


APPENDIX  V 

Statistics  of  the  **  American  Mission " 
(United  Presbyterian),  Jan.  i,  1906 


1. 


I.  WORKERS 

* — Ordained  missionaries 

-    22 

Professors  in  college 

-       1 

Men  doctors 

-      4 

Women  doctors 

-      3 

Layman             .         .         >         . 

-      1 

Nurse       -         -        -        -        • 

1 

Other  unmarried  women     - 

-    23 

Wives      .         -        -        .        . 

.    25 

Total  permanent  missionaries       -         -  80 

Short  term  men  and  women        -  -     34 


Total  foreign  workers  -         -         -  114 

Egyptian — Ordained  ministers  -  -  -  -  39 
Licentiates  .....  9 
Theological  students  -         -         -     20 

Other  presbyteriul  workers  -         -       9 

Harem  workers,  men  ...       5 

Harem  workers,  women      -         -         -    46 

Shopmen 8 

Colporteurs       -         -         -         -         -     30 
School  teachers,  men  -         -         -  297 

School  teachers,  women      -         -        -  116 


Total  native  workers  -        -  579 


Total  Workers,  Foreign  and  Native      -  693 

*  Regular  missionaries  who  went  out  in  1906  are  included. 

276 


Appendix  V  277 

11.   WORK 


1.  Synodical — 

Synods         .---...i 
Presbyteries 4 

2.  Congregational — 

Organized  congregations         -         ...       59 
Other  places  with  regular  services-  -  131 


Membership,  men 4,689 

Membership,  women      ...        -  3,950 


190 


8.639 


Increase  by  profession  (1905) 

844 

Average  attendance  Sabbath  service 

17,205 

Estimated  Protestant  community    - 

32,400 

Pastorates,  entirely  self-supporting 

13 

Contributions  of  native  church — 

Salaries          ...         - 

-       $11,600 

Buildings       .... 

7,700 

Congregational  expenses - 

2,600 

$21,900 

Missions  (Egypt  and  Sudan)   - 

$1,738 

Ministerial  Relief 

220 

Sabbath  School  Leaflet  - 

418 

The  poor       -        .         .        . 

4,730 

7,106 
Total  Contributions         -        -        -  $29,006 


278 


t                          Appendix 

V 

Educational — 

Mission  schools 

25     pupils 

- 

5,164 

Synod's  schools 

146 
171 

u 

10,287 

15,451 

Religions  represented- 

— 

Boys 

Girla 

Protestants 

. 

- 

2,322 

788 

Copts  - 

. 

- 

G,085 

2,094 

Moslems 

. 

- 

2,409 

706 

Others 

- 

- 

520 

527 

Cost  of  Schools — 

Paid  by  natives 

(fees,  etc.) 

- 

- 

$58,885 

Funds,  special  donations 

- 

- 

5,921 

Mission  treasury 

- 

• 

" 

35,382 

S100,188 


Medical  Work — 
House  visits 
Village  visits 
Clinic  cases  treated 
Operations    - 
Patients  in  hospitals 
Receipts,  fees 


3,957 

401 

30,596 

1,419 

2,644 

$22,581 


5.     Book  Department- 

Scriptures     - 
Religious  books 
Educational  books 
Stationery    - 


Number 
43,848 
14,926 
40,015 


Value 

$3,943.67 

2,784.76 

5,373.76 

2,393.76 


Total    - 


$14,495.95 


Appendix  V  279 

6.     Financial  Summary — 

Received  from  native  sources  in  gifts,  fees  and  other  payments 

going  to  assist  in  maintenance  of  missionary  operations — 

Evangelistic  department           ....  $29,00G 

Educational  department 58,885 

Book  department 14,496 

Medical  department 22,581 


Total  contributed  in  Egypt     ...        -  $124,968 

Appropriations  of  General  Assembly  in  America 

May,  1904,  for  1904-1905      -        -        .  $103,066 


Note. — For  other  statistics  see  Appendix  IV. 


APPENDIX    VI 

Bibliography 


NOTE.— No  attempt  has  been  made  to  furnish  an  exhaustive  bibliography. 
Many  references  are  made  to  older  books,  because  they  are  still  authoritative 
for  the  periods  with  which  they  deal.  A  few  of  the  books  have  been  specially 
marked  by  asterisks  to  indicate  those  suitable  for  general  reading  along  the  lines 
which  this  book  follows.  PubUshers  are  in  the  United  States,  unless  otherwise 
indicated.     Some  of  the  earlier  books  are  out  of  print. 


GENERAL  AND    STATISTICAL 

"Statesman's  Year  Book."     Issued   annually.      Macmillan. 
Pp.  U24. 

Gives  accurate  and  up-to-date  statistics  for  Egypt,  as  also  all  countries. 

"  Egypt."     Karl  Baedeker.     Issued  periodically.     Karl  Baede- 
ker, publisher,  Leipsic.     Pp.  408. 

Travelers'  guide  book.  Contains  valuable  introductory  chapters  on 
people,  country,  religions,  history  and  art.  Also  an  extended  Bibliog- 
raphy. 

♦"Encyclopedia  Britannica."     Under  heading  of  Egypt. 
Very  complete  surveys. 

COUNTRY  AND  PEOPLE 

*"  Modern  Egyptians."     E.  W.  Lane,  1836.     New  edition, 
1902.     Ward,  Lock  &  Co.     Pp.  552. 

A  standard  work  on  Moslem  Egyptian  customs  and  life  in  Cairo. 
Though  written  a  half  century  ago,  nothing  has  yet  appeared  to  displace 
it,  because  of  its  accurate  portrayal  of  native  Cairene  life. 

"Egypt."       Stanley    Lane- Poole,    1881.      S.   Low,    Marston, 

Searle  &  Rivington.     Pp.  199. 

Country  and  people  well  described  Also  customs,  social,  industrial  and 
political  conditions  just  before  British  occupation. 

280 


Appendix  VI  281 

*"  Present  Day  Egypt."     F.  C.  Penfield,  1899.     The  Cen- 
tury Co.     Pp.  372. 

Admirable  sketches  of  present  conditions  in  Egypt.     Very  readable. 

"Egypt  in   1898."     G.  W.  Steevens,   1898.     Dodd,  Mead  & 

Co.     Pp.  283. 

Vivid  p.ctures  in  most  readable  style  of  modern  Western  influences  in 
Egypt. 

"  Cairo."      Stanley    Lane-Poole,    1902.      J.    M.    Dent   &  Co., 
London.     Pp.  34:0. 

Uncommonly  good  sketches  of  Egyptian   social   life.     Also   of  historic 
associatious  of  Cairo. 

"  The  Khedive's  Country."     Edited  by  G.  M.  Fenn,  1904. 
Cassell  &  Co.,  Limited,  London.     Pp.  180. 

Description  of  farming  methods  and  products  in  Egypt. 

"  Egypt  Painted  and  Described."     R.  Talbot  Kelly,  1903. 
Adam  &  Charlea  Black,  London.     Pp.  239. 

Containing  seventy-five  beautifully  colored  pictures  from  paintings  by 
the  artist  and  author. 

HISTORY   AND    HISTORICAL   REFERENCES 

"  History  of  Egypt."     F.  C.  H.  Wendel,  1890.     American 
Book  Co.     Pp.  158. 

Concise  hand  book  of  history  of  ancient  Egypt. 

"A  History  of  Egypt."     Vols.  I-III.     From  earliest  times  to 
end  of  thirtieth  dynasty.     W.  M.¥.  Petrie,  1897. 

"  A    History   of   Egypt."     Vol.    IV.     Under  the  Ptolemaic 
Dynasty.     J.  P.  Mahaffy,  1899. 

"  A  History  of  Egypt."     Vol.  V.     Under  the  Roman  Rule. 
J.  G.  Milne,  1898. 

* "  A  History  of  Egypt."     Vol.    VI.     In  the  INIiddle  Ages. 

S.  Lane-Poole,  190L     Scribner. 

Vol.  yii  has  382  pages,  and  is  especially  valuable  in  explaining  Moslem 
domination. 

"  A  Thousand  Miles  up  the  Nile."     Amelia  Edwards,  1877. 

Longmans,  Green  &  Co.     Pp.  732.     Also  other  editions. 

Deals  largely  in  sketchy  descriptions  of  monuments  of  ancient  Egypt. 


282  Appendix  VI 

PRESENT  POLITICAL  SITUATION  AND  BRITISH 
OCCUPATION 

"Egypt  As  It  Is."     J.    C.  McCoan,  1877.     Henry   Holt  & 
Co.     Pp.  417. 

Good  presentation  of  political  and  industrial  conditions  in  Egypt  before 
British  occupation. 

"  The  Story  of  Egypt."     W.  Basil  Worsfold.     Horace  Mar- 
shall &  Son,  London.     Pp.  225. 

Good  hand-book  on  country,  its  recent  political  history  and  industrial 
conditions. 

♦"England  in  Egypt."     Alfred  Milner,   1892.     Macmillan. 

Pp.  448. 

Very  well  written  account  of  political  complexity  in  Egypt  and  rela- 
tion of  British  to  it. 

"  The  New  Egypt."     Francis  Adams,  1893.     T.  Fisher  Un- 
win,  London.     Pp.  297. 

Sketches  of  social  life  in  Egypt,  with  references  to  British  occupation. 

"Lord  Cromer."     H.   D.  Traill,  1897.     Bliss,  Sands  &  Co. 
Pp.  351. 

Life  of  Lord  Cromer,  but  chiefly  in  relation  to  administration  and  re- 
forms in  Egypt. 

*"The   Redemption  of  Egypt."     W.    B.  Worsfold,   1899. 
Longmans,  Green  &  Co.     Pp.  333. 

Good  presentation   of  present  political    and    industrial    conditions  in 
Egypt. 

"The  Expansion   of   Egypt."     A.   S.  White,   1899.     New 
Amsterdam  Book  Co.     Pp.  483. 

Discussion  of  England's  policy  of  expansion  in  its  relation  to  Egypt. 

"England,  Egypt  and  the  Sudan."     H.  D.   Traill,  1900. 

A.  Constable  &  Co  ,  Westminster.     Pp.  242. 

Succinct  account  of  movements  leading  to  British  occupation  of  Egypt 
down  to  close  of  Mahdi  war. 

"  The  Story  of  the  Khedivate."     Ed.  Dicey,  1902.     Scrib- 
ner.     Pp.  539. 

Account  of  political  events  from  Mohammed  AH  to  Abbaa  IL 


Appendix  V!  283 

Official  Reports  to  Parliament,  by  Lord  Cromer  and 
others,  since  British  occupation.     Harrison  &  Sons,  London. 

RELIGIONS 

*"The  Story  of  the  Church  of  Egypt,"     E.  L.  Butcher, 
1897.     Smith,  Polder  &  Co.,  London.     Two  vols.     Pp.  497,  448. 
A  standard  work,  giving  history  of  Coptic  Church. 

"  Religions  OF  Mission  Fields."  1905.  Student  Volunteer 
Movement.     Pp.  301. 

Chapter  IX.  on  Islam,  by  Zwemer,  clear  and  concise. 

"  Life  of  Mahomet."     W.  Muir,  1894.     London. 

♦"Arabia,  the  Cradle  of  Islam."  S.  M.  Zwemer,  1900. 
Revell.     Pp.  434. 

"The  Mohammedan  World  of  To-day."  1906.  Revell. 
Pp.  302. 

Report  of  Cairo  Conference,  giving  papers  surveying  conditions  in  tha 
Moslem  world. 

"  Methods  of  Mission  Work  Among  Moslems."  1906. 
Revell.     Pp.  236. 

Report  of  Cairo  Conference  and  discussions  on  how  to  reach  Moslems. 

MISSIONS 

"  Periodical  Accounts  Relating  to  the  Missions  of  the 
Church  of  the  United  Brethren  Established  Among  the 
Heathen."  1832.  Brethren's  Society  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  heathen. 

"Narrative  of  the  Life  of  John  Henry  DANfeE." 

Vol.  XII.,  Nos.  62,  134, 135,  218,  220.     Giving  life  and  work  of  Antes, 
Hocker,  Pilder,  Wieniger,  Danke. 

*"  Kagged  Life  IN  Egypt,"     M.  L.  Whately,  1862.     Seeley, 

Jackson  &  Holliday.  London. 

Account  of  missionary  work  in   fiO's,  with   man\'  side  lights  on  customs. 
Written  for  young  people. 

"  More  About  Ragged  Life  in  Egypt."     M.  L.  Whately. 
"  Among  the  Huts  in  Egypt."     M.  L.  Whately, 
Much  like  foregoing ;  more  advanced  and  mature 


284  Appendix  VI 

•  Eavrx's  Princes."  Gulian  Lansing,  1864.  Robert  Carter 
&  Bros.     Pp.  426, 

Interesting  descriptions  of  conditions  and  mission  work  in  early  days  of 
American  Misjiou. 

*  "  The  American  Mission  in  Egypt,"  Andrew  Watson,  D.D., 
1897.  United  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  Pittsburr^h,  Pa. 
Pp.  487. 

The  standard  work,  giving  history  of  this   mission,  1854-97.     Also  valu- 
able chapter  on  religions. 

*"  In  THE  King's  Service."  1905.  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sion.s  of  the  United  Presbyterian  ('hurch,  Philadelphia.     Pp.  225. 

"  River,  Sand  and  Sun."     IMinna  C.  GoUock,  1906.     Church 

Missionary  Society,  London.      Pp.  184. 

Profusely  illustrated.     Gives   sketches  of  present  day  work  of  C.  M.  S. 
Mission, 

"  Modern  Missions  in  the  East."  E.  A.  Lawrence,  1895, 
Harper.     Pp.  329. 

Reference  to  Egypt,  119-126.     ISIethods  of  work,  Chapter  VII. 

*  Reports.  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  United  Presby- 
terian Church  of  North  America,  Philadelphia,  Pa.    Issued  annually. 

Reports.  Church  Missionary  Society,  Salisbury  Square,  Lon- 
don.    Issued  annually. 

"  Blessed  be  Egypt."  40  cents  a  year.  D.  T,  Reed,  224 
Sixth  Street,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Missionary  magazine.     Issued  quarterly  in  England. 

FICTION 

"An  Egyptian  Princess."     George  Ebers,  1891.     Appleton. 

Portrayal  of  conditions  in  ancient  Egypt. 

"The  Yoke."  Elizabeth  Miller,  1904.  Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 
Pp.  616. 

A  romance  of  days  of  Israel  in  Egypt. 

"Hypatia."     Charles  Kingsley,  1863.     Coates.     Pp.419, 
Vivid  delineation  of  conditions  in  fifth  century,  A.  D. 


INDEX  = 


Abbas  I.,  82,  153 ;  Abbas  II.,  89. 

Abbassid  (from  'Abbas)  Calipbs,  72-73. 

Advantages  of  E.  as  mission  field,  28. 

Ahmed  Fahmi,  174-177. 

Alexander  the  Great,  65-fi6. 

Alexandria,  66,  67,  155,  253. 

American  Mission.  See  United  Pres- 
byterian. 

"American  Mission  in  Egypt,"  by 
Andrew  Watson,  D.D.,  quoted  re- 
peatedly.    See  Bibliography. 

'Anir  conquers  E.,  70-71. 

Animal  life,  23,  62. 

Antes,  Jn.,  138-139,  141. 

Appeal :  Of  Success.  237-251 ;  of  Need, 
251-259  ;  of  Privilege,  259-268. 

Appeal  of  Mission  in  E.,  197-199. 

Arabians,  30-31. 

Arabic.     See  Language. 

Arabi  Rebellion,  84-85,  180. 

Architecture  :  Of  Ancient  E.,  60,  63 ; 
of  Moslems,  74. 

Area:  Of  all  E.,  6;  of  cultivable 
land,  7-8,  24. 

Arianism,  105-107. 

Armenians,  31. 

Artistic  scenes,  4. 

Assiut,  158,  166. 

Assiut  College,  171,  193,  227-228. 

Ayyubid  (from  Ayyub)  dynasty,  77. 

Azhar  University,  47-1 75. 

Berbers,  30. 

Bible:  See  Literary;  land,  5:  refer- 
ences, 64,  65,  see  Israel,  Koran; 
Societies,  157. 

Bibliography,  Appendix  VI. 

Birds,  24. 

Book:  Department  Store,  see  Liter- 
ature. 

Boundaries  of  E.,  6-7. 

Britain,  Great,  in  E,,  80,  85-J6. 


20 


285 


British  Occupation :  Brings  prosper- 
ity, 24-26,  85-96;  favors  Moslems, 
92-93. 

Byzantine,  69. 

Cairene,  32 ;  dress,  33,  34 ;  house,  35- 
38. 

Cairo,  154,  155,  156,  164,  194. 

Capitulations,  87-88. 

Census,  see  Population. 

Characteristics  :  Physical  of  country, 
10;  physical  of  people,  32-33; 
mental,  48-49;  general,  49-53. 

Cheerfulness,  49-50. 

Cholera,  182. 

Christianity:  Enters  E.,  68-69,  100- 
105;  see  Mohammedan,  Coptic, 
Protestant,  Religions;  census,  99- 
100;  decadence,  105-110. 

Chronology,  57,  58. 

Church  Missionary  SoSietv,  142-149, 
199-201,232,236. 

Cities  and  towns:  Number  of,  9; 
names  of,  9-10. 

Clement,  101. 

Climate,  13-15. 

Colporteur.    See  Literature. 

Conservatism,  51-52. 

Constantine,  105. 

Constantinople,  69. 

Conversions,  striking,  139-141,  174- 
177,184-185,238-239. 

Coptic:  Census,  99-100;  origin  of 
Church,  100-110;  calendar.  105; 
views,  110-114,  136-137,  222;  mor- 
alitv,  115-116;  responsiveness  to 
Gospel,  116-117,  211,  212-214;  oppo- 
sition to  Mission,  165-171 ;  reforms, 
189-190. 

Cost:  Of  land,  19-20;  of  various 
items,  24-25. 


286 


Index 


Country:  Chapter  on,  3-28;    size  of, 

see  Area. 
Cromer,  Lord,  53-54,  89. 
Crops,  20,  21,  22. 
Culiivable  area,  7,  8. 

Dales,  S.  B.,  155,  186. 

Dams.     See  Irrigation, 

Danke,  Ju.  H.,  136-138. 

Dates,  according  to  Steiudorfl",  57. 

Debt,  national,  83-84,  86. 

Deceit,  50-51. 

Density  of  population,  8-9. 

Desert,  12. 

Dhulip  Singh,  164-165. 

Diocletian,  104. 

Distances,  illustrated,  10. 

Divorce,  43. 

Doctrines.   See  Coptic,  Mohammedan. 

Dress,  33,  34. 

Dynasty.    See  History. 

Education:  See  Ignorance;  Moslem 
standards,  47-48;  Western  influ- 
ences, 53-54;  mission  schools,  63- 
54,  see  Educational;  government 
schools,  54. 

Educational  work,  53-54,  147,  155, 
156,  166-167,  171,  172, 174,  175,  191, 
192,  194,  202,  225-231,  see  Harem. 

Egypt:  The  name,  29;  the  country, 
3-28:  debt,  see  Debt;  religions, 
96-129;  influence  among  Moslems, 
118-119. 

Egypt  General  Mission.  202. 

Egyptian :  Origin  of  the,  29-30 ; 
"three  types,  31-32;  physical  de- 
scription, 32;  dress,  33-34;  house, 
35-38  ;  womanhood,  39-45  :  traits  of 
chnracter,  49-53  ;  history,  56-96. 

Elevations  about  Nile.  12. 

England,  see  Britain,  British. 

Evangelical  Church,  see  Protestant. 

Evangelistic  work,  135-141,  156,  172- 
173,  195,200,  217-225. 

Exports,  25-26. 

Earn  Stephanos,  188-189. 
Faris,  persecuted,  158-164. 


Fasting:    Coptic,  112,  138;  Moslem, 

126-127. 
Fatimite  (from  Fatima)  dynasty,  75- 

76. 
Fayum,  64. 
Fdlah   {(em.  fellaha;  y>\.  fellahin) ; 

31-32;  dress,  34;  house,  36. 
Financial,  see  Self-support. 
Flood,  see  Nile. 
Foreigners,  8,  30-31,  87-88. 
Funeral,  39. 

Gobat,  Bishop,  146-148. 

God  :  See  Providence ;  Coptic  concep- 
tion, 107;  Moslem,  120-121,  124. 

Government:  Schools,  54;  of  E.,  90- 
91  ;  officials  endorse  Mission,  229- 
230. 

Granite,  12,  60. 

Great  Britain,  see  Britain,  British. 

Habib,  184-185. 

Harem  :  Apartments,  38, 40-41 ;  work, 

209,  221-225. 
Health,  see  Climate. 
Heat,  see  C'liinate. 
Heresy,  105-106,  108-109,  183-184. 
Hills,  ranges  of,  11-12. 
Historical  interest,  3-4. 
History,  Chapter  on,  66-96. 
Hocker,  Wm.,  132-136,  142. 
Hogg,  Jn.,  185-186. 
Hospitality,  49. 
Houses,  described,  35-38. 
Humor,  50. 
Hyksos,  61-62. 
Hypatia,  108. 

Ibis,  218-221. 

Ignorance,  41-42,  47,  see  Education. 
Ikhshid,  75. 

Illiteracy,  see  Ignorance. 
Imports,  26-26. 

Increase    in   population,  see    Popula- 
tion. 
Indolence,  51. 

Influence  of  neighboring  lands,  7. 
Interest  in  E.,  3-6. 


Index 


287 


Inundation,   17-18;  analogy    in    his- 
tory, 66. 
Invasions,  30,  56-57,  65,  70,  78. 
Irrigation,  18-20,  61. 
Islam,  see  Mohammedan. 
Isma  'il,  82-84. 
Isolation  of  E.,  7. 
Israel  in  E.,  61-62,  64, 

Jowett,  143-145. 
Justice,  87,  88,  91. 

Khedives,  79,  81. 
Koran,  122. 

Lakes,  13. 

Land,  cost  of,  19-20. 

Lane-Poole,  opinion  on  Moslem  wom- 
anhood, 43-45 ;  see  Bibliography. 

Language:  Arabic,  45-47;  difficult, 
46;  extensive  literature,  46  ;  Arabic 
introduced,  78. 

Lansing,  Gulian,  186-187. 

Leider,  J.  R.  T.,  147. 

Limestone  hills,  11-12. 

Literature  (or  Colporteur)  depart- 
ment, 146,  148,  155,  156,  157,  170, 
189,  196,201,202,209-217. 

Lying,  50-51. 

Maharajah  Dhulip  Singh,  164-105, 
220-221. 

Mameluke  dynasty,  78. 

Mark,  John,  101. 

Marriage,  39  ;  without  love,  42. 

Martyrs :  See  Persecution,  Oppression. 

McCague,  Thos.,  154. 

McKown,  Martha  J.,  187-188. 

Medical  work,  132,  172,  196,200,231- 

/    236. 

Memory,  50. 

Misr,  see  Egypt. 

Missionary  and  his  work,  207-208. 

Missionary:  Interest,  6;  problems, 
see  Cost,  Woman,  Language,  Ignor- 
ance, Need  ;  agents,  205-209  ;  meth- 
ods, see  Literature,  Evangelistic, 
Educational,  Medical;  spirit  in  Is- 


lam, 77,  128-129  ;  in  native  Church. 
172-173,  245-246. 

Missions:  See  Moravian,  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society,  United  Presby- 
terian; also  201-204,  253,  Appendix 
IV. 

Mizraim,  see  Egypt. 

Modern  Period,  79-95. 

Mohammed  Ali,  80-82. 

Mohammedan :  Polygamy,  42-43 ; 
divorce,  43 ;  degradation  of  woman, 
43-45;  standards  of  education,  47- 
48;  entrance  into  E.,  70,  117,118; 
domination,  71-79 ;  census,  99-100, 
118  ;  sects,  119-120  ;  doctrines,  120- 
124;  duties,  125-129;  influenced  by 
Gospel,  139-141,  174-177,  184,185; 
work  among  them,  174,  190,  200, 
201,  202,211,  214-217;  persecution 
of  Christians,  see  Persecution. 

Monasticism,  107-108 

Money,  264-268. 

Monophysite  heresy,  108-109,  111. 

Morality  of  Copts,  114-116. 

Moravian  Mission,  131-142. 

Moslem,  see  Mohammedan. 

Mott,  J.  R.,  193-194. 

Name,  of  E.,  29. 

Napoleon,  80. 

Native  Church,  see  Protestant. 

Need,  250-256. 

Nile:  Picturesque,  4;  its  course,  15- 
16;  its  influence,  16-17;  its  inun- 
dation, 17-18;  irrigation,  18-19. 

Nile  Mission  Press,  204. 

North  Africa  Mission,  201. 

Numerical  Success,  237-238. 

Occupation,  of  people.  Appendix  II. 

Ohio,  255. 

Omayyad  (from  Omar)  Caliphs,  72. 

Opportunity,  55. 

Ojjpression,  by  Moslems,  71,  72-73, 
76,  95. 

Organization,  177-179,  see  Protest- 
ant. 

Origen,  102-103. 


288 


Index 


Pantaenus,  101. 

Patriarch,  Coptic,  114. 

Pennsylvania  compared,  255. 

People,  Chapter  on,  29-56. 

Persia,  65. 

Persecutions.  Of  early  Christians, 
104-105;  of  Mission,  158-164,  167- 
171, 174-177, 179. 

Peter  in  E.,  101. 

Pharaohs,  58-65. 

Pilder,  Geo.,  134-135. 

Pilgrimage,  127. 

Pittsburgh  compared,  254-257. 

Plymouthism,  183-184. 

Politeness,  49. 

Political  Situation,    5,  85-86,  180-182. 

Polygamy,  Moslem,  9,  42. 

Population,  8 ;  increasing,  8 ;  den- 
sity, 8,-9 ;  by  sexes,  9  ;  by  resi- 
dences, 9  J  of  cities  and  towns,  9- 
10:  illiteracy,  41:  religions,  99- 
100;  growth'cl.  'Missions,  237-238; 
Appendix  I,  II. 

Postal  service,  27. 

Prayer,  259-261 ;  Moslem,  125. 

Prehistoric  Period,  58. 

Pressly  Memorial  Institute,  194. 

Price,  see  Cost. 

Problems,  see  Missionarv- 

Products,  21-23. 

Pronunciation,  Appendix  III. 

Protestant  Church,  155,  157,  171, 173, 
178,  185, 190,  191,192,  221,223,  241- 
248. 

Providence,  94-95,  153-154,  180-183. 

Pyramids,  3,  59-60. 

Railroads,  26-27. 

Rameses  II.,  63. 

Religions,  Chapter  on,  97-129;  see 
Christianity,  Mohammedan,  Cop- 
tic, Protestant. 

Religiosity,  52-53. 

Residence,  9. 

Results,  237-251  ;  also  Chapter  VIII : 
see  Conversions. 

Roman  influence,  68. 

Sa'id,  82. 
galadin,  78. 
alutations,  37,  49. 


Sandstone,  12. 

Sandstorm,  14. 

Seasons,  20-21,  see  Climate. 

Seclusion  of  woman,  36,  40-41. 

Self-support,  172,  196,  Appendix  V. 

Seminary,  Theological,  156. 

Sensuality,  52. 

Serapis,  Temple  of,  102,  108, 

Sexes,  Census  of,  9. 

Social :  Customs,  38-39,  49,  see  Houses, 

Woman,  Salutations;   changes,  54- 

55,  223-225,  248-250. 
Spelling  of  names.  Appendix  III. 
Statistics,  Appendix  I,  II,  IV,  V. 
Stephanos,  see  Fam. 
Success,  see  Results. 
Sudan,  197;  people  of,  31. 
Sudan  Pioneer  Mission,  202. 
Sunni  sect,  119-120. 
Syrians,  31. 

Taxes,  87. 

Telegraph,  27. 

Telephone,  27. 

Temperature,  15. 

Tewflk,  84,  89. 

Town  people,  32. 

Transportation,  26-27. 

Trees,  22-23. 

Tulunid  (from  Tulun)  dynasty,  73-74. 

Turkish  domination,  79-95. 

Turks,  31. 

United  Presbyterian  Mission,  150- 
199;  called  American  Mission,  150; 
begun,  152;  also  see  references  in 
Chapters  VIII,  IX,  Appendix  V. 

Vision,  259-262. 
Volunteers,  267-268. 

Watson,  Andrew,  see  "American 
Mission  in  E." 

Whately,  M.  L.,  203. 

Western  influences,  34-35,  53-54,  78. 

Wieniger,  Geo.  H.,  138-142. 

Winds,  14. 

Woman  :  Dress,  34 :  apartments,  38 ; 
secluded,  40-41;  marriage,  42; 
polygamy,  42;  divorce,  43;  eleva- 
tion, 249  ;  see  Harem  work. 

Zinzendorf,  131-132. 


\ 


5LAP  OP 

EGYPT 

Engraved  from  latest  information  and  surveys  to  illustrate 

THE    HISTORY    OF 

THE   AMERICAN    MISSION    IN    EGYPT. 

Publislied  by  tPie  Unilpd  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication. 


nearly   I  O.OOO.OOO 


^  ^:^ 


EGYPT.- MISSION  STATIONS  OF  UNITEi;    PRESBYTERIAN  ICHURCH. 


Date  Due 


igypt  and  the  Christian  crusade, 

IN|"n1'°"  ''"^'^o'ogical  Seminary-Speer  Library 


iiniidiiiiiii; 


iiiiiiiitHtHHINIHUIHtllHIHltHDHiiiiHIII 


